Secretary of Housing and Urban Development-designate Ben Carson is sworn in during his confirmation hearing before Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Jan. 12, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Fox News Reports:
Retired
neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed by the Senate Thursday to become housing
secretary in the Trump administration.
Carson, a former Republican presidential candidate who
battled Trump for the GOP nomination, was confirmed for the Cabinet position by
a 58 to 41 vote.
In his role as head of the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, or HUD, Carson will lead more than 8,300 employees and
handle an annual budget of nearly $47 billion.
The vote comes more than a month after Carson earned the
bipartisan backing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee,
even gaining the support of two of the panel’s most liberal members — Democrats
Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
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RELATED STORY:
Dr. Ben Carson Shares His Vision for Housing and Urban
Development
By Karl Nelson
| Monday, 23 Jan 2017 04:31 PM
“For a long time government has counted success by the
number of people they can put in public housing,” Carson told a reception in
Washington following Trump’s inauguration on Friday.
“We need to count success based on the number of people
we get out of public housing.”
“I believe that this is an opportunity for us to heal
some of the rips in our society and for us to show that we can do things in a
fair and equitable manner,” he said.
“How do we develop the people of America?” Carson said
rhetorically at the reception hosted by close adviser Armstrong Williams,
adding that “we’ve got to be good, not only about putting them in shelter, but
cultivating that God-given intellect.
“It was the intellect. It was the ‘can do’ spirit that
made America into a great place, and the last thing we need to do is to trade
that ‘can do’ spirit for a ‘what can you do for me’ spirit,” he added.
Carson told those in attendance that his life experience,
including a career as an acclaimed pediatric neurosurgeon, has prepared him for
an opportunity such as this.
“I spent 18 years on the board of Kellogg and the board
of Costco,” Carson told Newsmax. “We started a national nonprofit, which has
been very successful,” he said of the Carson Scholars Fund that he founded in 1994
with his wife, Candy.
“Taking pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, and when
I became a director, it wasn’t even on the map,” Carson said, adding that by
2008 a report “rated it No. 1 in the country.”
“So, I know something,” he added.
When Carson spoke to Newsmax on Election Day back in
November, he said that one of the main reasons he decided to run for office
initially was based on his desire to help the American people and bring about
much needed change. It’s that same mindset that is a motivation to join Trump’s
Cabinet.
“How do we make sure they become part of the fabric that
drives America?” Carson said. “And as far as I’m concerned, that’s not a
Democrat or Republican issue. This is an American issue.”
Carson awaits his confirmation by the United States
Senate, after sitting before the committee on Jan. 12 for his confirmation
hearing.
Critics have voiced their concerns about Carson’s ability
to successfully lead HUD, but in his confirmation hearing, the renowned
neurosurgeon and former GOP presidential candidate pointed to his own
rags-to-riches story, assuring the Senate that he sympathizes with the millions
of Americans who are enrolled in HUD programs, mainly because he can relate to
what they go through, according to CNN.
“I have actually in my life understood what housing
insecurity was,” Carson said during his testimony.
