Bloomberg News
WASHINGTON — Scott Turner, President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, had his nomination approved by the Senate Banking Committee by a 13-11 vote Thursday.
The vote came down along party lines, with all Republicans voting for Turner’s nomination to go before the full Senate and all committee Democrats voting against his nomination.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Senate Banking panel, said that she wouldn’t vote in favor of his nomination until the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a full background check on Turner.
Warren said that she had planned to vote in favor of Turner, but couldn’t due to the lack of the background check, which she said the committee chairman and ranking members have had access to in the past.
“We are missing one important piece of information for Mr. Turner, and we should not move forward without it,” she said. “Everyone must remember that if confirmed, Mr. Turner will serve as a member of President Trump’s cabinet and be in
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who chairs the committee, said that the panel doesn’t require a background check. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, also spoke in favor of the committee moving forward with the nomination, although he made some nods to Warren’s point.
“I think we ought to back our chairman,” Kennedy said. “I’m not saying that Senator Warren has any ill motive here, but this will delay us and we need to get started.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a moderate on the banking committee, argued that the panel should delay their vote.
“I don’t think it would cause an undue delay,” he said. “I agree with a lot of what Senator Kennedy just said, and what you Mr. Chairman and Senator Warren said, and I’m wide open to support Mr. Turner, but I don’t think this is an unreasonable request. You have a majority, but I think we’re going to miss an opportunity, frankly, [to] have a broad, bipartisan vote of support for Mr. Turner by rushing this out of the committee.”
Turner garnered bipartisan support for his housing policies during his confirmation hearing by talking about boosting housing supply during his
“As a country, we’re not building enough housing. We need millions of homes, all kinds of homes: multifamily, single-family, duplex, condos, manufactur[ed] housing, you name it,” Turner said.
Turner’s comments that he would “maximize’ the HUD budget when asked about whether he would push for additional funds, protect the agency’s budget for certain programs, or how he would spend additional money turned several Democrats off from his candidacy to lead the housing agency.
“Nevadans are facing an affordable housing crisis and Scott Turner has made it clear that he has no interest in protecting HUD programs that build more homes families can afford,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. “I’m deeply concerned by Mr. Turner’s lack of experience and his willingness to freeze critical housing programs, including those that help our seniors and veterans.”