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thisfinecrewNomination Hearing for Dr. Benjamin Carson, of Michigan, to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
When: Thursday 12 January from 10:00am
Committee Members: (as at 10 Jan) Chairman: Senator Crapo, Mike (R - ID), Senator Richard C. Shelby (R - AL), Senator Bob Corker (R - TN), Senator Patrick J. Toomey (R - PA), Senator Dean Heller (R - NV), Senator Tim Scott (R - SC), Senator Ben Sasse (R - NE), Senator Tom Cotton (R - AR), Senator Mike Rounds (R - SD), Senator David Perdue (R - GA), Senator Thom Tillis (R - NC), Senator John Kennedy (R - LA), Ranking Member: Senator Sherrod Brown (D - OH), Senator Jack Reed (D - RI), Senator Robert Menendez (D - NJ), Senator Jon Tester (D - MT), Senator Mark R.Warner (D - VA), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - MA), Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D - ND), Senator Joe Donnelly (D - IN), Senator Brian Schatz (D - HI), Senator Chris Van Hollen (D - MD), Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D - NV)
What the committee should be concerned about: Dr Ben Carson is a retired neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate. He has no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy, and has apparently previously expressed doubts about his suitability to head a major government department. (He is reported to have rejected an earlier offer from Trump to be the next secretary of Health and Human services because he felt he was too inexperienced to run a federal agency.)
His philosophy, laid out in his autobiography, is that "individual effort, not government programs, is the key to overcoming poverty", despite having been raised by a mother who sometimes turned to the government for food assistance. He has also repeatedly expressed his opposition to the kind of government initiatives that form the bulk of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's work, both during his presidential campaign and prior to that: in 2015, he wrote an op-ed article that criticised a HUD Fair Housing Rule that aims to reduce segregation, saying "These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse."
Dr Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, which fuels his preference for church-based rather than government initiatives to tackle social issues. While many of his beliefs (he’s against abortion under any circumstances, including rape and incest, and opposes same-sex marriage) don't impact directly on HUD's work, they do show that he's out of step with much of the current rights and civil liberties landscape and the views of the majority of Americans on these issues.
Suggested script for calling representatives:"Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Dr Ben Carson as the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development because he lacks experience in government and running a large bureaucracy, and apparently does not believe himself that he's capable of heading a government department. He's also questioned whether departments like HUD and their programmes should exist at all. Dr Carson's lack of experience in running an organisation like HUD and rejection of much of HUD's work make him unsuited to leading a department that helps the most vulnerable in our country, and he should therefore not be our next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.
When: Thursday 12 January from 10:00am
Committee Members: (as at 10 Jan) Chairman: Senator Crapo, Mike (R - ID), Senator Richard C. Shelby (R - AL), Senator Bob Corker (R - TN), Senator Patrick J. Toomey (R - PA), Senator Dean Heller (R - NV), Senator Tim Scott (R - SC), Senator Ben Sasse (R - NE), Senator Tom Cotton (R - AR), Senator Mike Rounds (R - SD), Senator David Perdue (R - GA), Senator Thom Tillis (R - NC), Senator John Kennedy (R - LA), Ranking Member: Senator Sherrod Brown (D - OH), Senator Jack Reed (D - RI), Senator Robert Menendez (D - NJ), Senator Jon Tester (D - MT), Senator Mark R.Warner (D - VA), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - MA), Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D - ND), Senator Joe Donnelly (D - IN), Senator Brian Schatz (D - HI), Senator Chris Van Hollen (D - MD), Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D - NV)
What the committee should be concerned about: Dr Ben Carson is a retired neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate. He has no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy, and has apparently previously expressed doubts about his suitability to head a major government department. (He is reported to have rejected an earlier offer from Trump to be the next secretary of Health and Human services because he felt he was too inexperienced to run a federal agency.)
His philosophy, laid out in his autobiography, is that "individual effort, not government programs, is the key to overcoming poverty", despite having been raised by a mother who sometimes turned to the government for food assistance. He has also repeatedly expressed his opposition to the kind of government initiatives that form the bulk of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's work, both during his presidential campaign and prior to that: in 2015, he wrote an op-ed article that criticised a HUD Fair Housing Rule that aims to reduce segregation, saying "These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse."
Dr Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, which fuels his preference for church-based rather than government initiatives to tackle social issues. While many of his beliefs (he’s against abortion under any circumstances, including rape and incest, and opposes same-sex marriage) don't impact directly on HUD's work, they do show that he's out of step with much of the current rights and civil liberties landscape and the views of the majority of Americans on these issues.
Suggested script for calling representatives:"Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Dr Ben Carson as the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development because he lacks experience in government and running a large bureaucracy, and apparently does not believe himself that he's capable of heading a government department. He's also questioned whether departments like HUD and their programmes should exist at all. Dr Carson's lack of experience in running an organisation like HUD and rejection of much of HUD's work make him unsuited to leading a department that helps the most vulnerable in our country, and he should therefore not be our next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.
