WASHINGTON—The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday advanced to the full Senate the nomination of U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The committee’s chair, Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said he’s confident that Fudge will work to address the housing crisis and prevent families from being evicted.
If confirmed by the Senate, Fudge, a Democrat tapped by President Joe Biden, will be the second Black woman to lead the $48 billion agency.
The panel voted 17-7 to approve Fudge’s nomination.
“Housing is the gateway to opportunity, we all know that,” Brown said. “Too many Americans are left out of that.”
The ranking member of the committee, Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he could not support Fudge’s nomination because he felt she lacked experience in urban housing policy.
“Only a small percentage of bills she has either sponsored or cosponsored were related to housing or community development,” Toomey said. “I acknowledge that not all Cabinet nominees are experts in the policy areas that their agencies cover, but when they are not it makes their policy views all the more important.”
The committee also unanimously voted to advance Cecilia E. Rouse’s nomination as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, which provides economic policy advice to the president.
