Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, lambasted Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Thursday for prioritizing the need for new furniture at the agency over improvements to public housing conditions, and said he regretted voting to confirm Carson.
“Under your leadership, Secretary Carson, HUD has decided a wobbly chair in a private D.C. dining room requires the urgent attention of no fewer than 16 staffers and thousands, thousands of taxpayer dollars,” Brown told Carson.
Brown later told the HUD secretary he regretted supporting his confirmation last year.
“Mr. Secretary, as you remember, I voted to confirm you,” Brown told Carson Wednesday. “Four other Dems on this committee voted to confirm you. I’m not sure I made the right decision.”
Carson was testifying during an oversight hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, where he was criticized for the agency’s purchase of a $31,000 dining room set for Carson’s office last year.
The secretary has said he wasn’t aware of the purchase and instead had asked his wife to take the lead on redecorating.
Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, rebuked Carson for making excuses regarding the purchase of the furniture.
“Instead of taking responsibility, Mr. Secretary, you seem to want to blame others,” the senator said. “Your wife picked out the furniture without knowing the price. Your spokesman said something, but not you. You shouldn’t be blamed for not listening to your ethics lawyers. The press is unfair. It goes on and on and on and on. Blaming others seems to be the order of the day in the swamp.”
Carson stressed Thursday that once he became aware of the costly furniture purchase, he canceled the order to ensure no taxpayer dollars were wasted. He also said characterizations the $31,000 for spent on a dining room table were inaccurate.
“It’s not a table,” Carson said. “It’s 17 pieces of furniture.”
