The Senate confirmed Scott Turner as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in a vote Wednesday largely along party lines, 55-44.
Turner had met resistance from Democrats in the Senate Banking Committee for procedural rather than substantive reasons when the panel advanced his nomination to the floor, 13-11, on Jan. 23. Senate Banking ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and others raised objections to voting on him before the committee had received his FBI background check.
Turner’s FBI background check was made available before the vote, according to a Senate aide. Some Democrats who voted against Turner in committee said they were inclined generally to support him.
Warren ended up opposing Turner for confirmation due to her concerns about HUD potentially being targeted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“I was prepared to vote yes because Scott Turner agreed with me in his hearing that we need to address our housing supply crisis,” Warren said in a statement. “But there is no indication that Mr. Turner will prevent President Trump from threatening key federal programs that lower housing costs or stop unelected billionaire Elon Musk from taking over HUD next. It’s not business as usual — and the American people are counting on their elected officials to fight back against this hostile takeover of our country.”
During his confirmation hearing in January, there was a consensus among Turner and Republican and Democratic lawmakers that the U.S. is facing a significant shortage of affordable housing.
Turner said he would “maximize the budget we do have,” while Warren and other Democrats pressed him to commit to being open to spending more money on affordable housing.
A former NFL player who was head of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the first Trump administration, Turner has emphasized that his difficult childhood in a broken, low-income family gives him an understanding of HUD’s efforts to help the vulnerable.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Turner’s work in the first Trump administration to generate private investment in economically challenged areas will translate well to his HUD duties.
“It was Scott Turner who oversaw this program for the White House, visiting opportunity zones across the country in an effort to revitalize America’s distressed communities,” Thune said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “And I’m confident he will bring that same concern for distressed areas to his work as secretary.”
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., also highlighted Turner’s work on opportunity zones, saying he had helped bring $50 billion to 8,700 distressed neighborhoods.
“These investments helped to revitalize many forgotten communities,” Barrasso said Wednesday on the floor before the confirmation vote.
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