WASHINGTON: Two of President Donald Trump’s former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41. A few hours later, the Senate backed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary, 62-37.
Carson and Perry are the 17th and 18th of Trump’s 22 Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations to win Senate approval.
Carson has never held public office and has no housing policy experience. Republicans have praised the life story of a man who grew up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education.
Perry, who once pledged to eliminate the department, has repeatedly promised to be an advocate for the agency and to protect the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Perry also pledged to rely on federal scientists, including those who work on climate change.
Perry, who served 14 years as Texas governor, has said he will seek to develop American energy in all forms, from oil, gas and nuclear power to renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
Democrats say they accept Perry’s disavowal of his 2011 pledge to abolish the department, but they worry he may not stand up to GOP proposals to slash the department’s budget.
Carson, 65, will lead an agency with some 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion. The department provides billions of dollars in housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing. It also enforces fair housing laws and offers mortgage insurance to poorer Americans through the Federal Housing Administration, part of HUD.
Vice President Mike Pence said he is confident that Carson will “open doors of opportunity” to some of the most vulnerable in the country.
At his confirmation hearing, Carson told lawmakers that he envisioned forging a more “holistic approach” to helping people and developing “the whole person.” He didn’t offer many details.
Perry, 66, told a Senate committee that he regrets his infamous statement about abolishing the department and insisted it performs critical functions, particularly in protecting and modernizing the nation’s nuclear stockpile.
During Perry’s tenure as governor, Texas maintained its traditional role as a top driller for oil and natural gas, while also emerging as the leading producer of wind power in the United States and a top provider of solar power.
Also Thursday, Senators cleared Trump’s nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid for a final floor vote.
The Finance Committee approved Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma on a party line vote 13-12.
Verma would head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency that oversees programs covering more than 130 million people.