OK, let’s talk about Dr. Ben Carson.
Yes, I have serious, deep, profound concerns about Dr. Carson’s inexperience to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Yes, I adamantly disagree with many of the outrageous things that Dr. Carson said during his presidential campaign. Yes, he is not the nominee I wanted.
But “the nominee I wanted” is not the test.
Millions of American families depend on HUD programs, including tens of thousands of families in Massachusetts. For many of them, HUD assistance is the difference between a safe, stable home and life on the street. As someone who has spent a lot of time working on housing policy in this country, my focus is on helping these families – and the countless others who could benefit from a stronger agency.
During the nomination process, I sent Dr. Carson a nine-page letter with detailed questions on a whole range of issues: Section 8 housing assistance; lead exposure in public housing; programs to prevent and end homelessness; programs to help victims of domestic violence; fighting housing discrimination; HUD’s role in preparing for and recovering from natural disasters; and, more broadly, the standards he will use for managing the department, including the steps he will take to protect the rights of LGBT Americans.
Dr. Carson’s answers weren’t perfect. But at his hearing, he committed to track and report on conflicts of interest at the agency. In his written responses to me, he made good, detailed promises, on everything from protecting anti-homelessness programs to enforcing fair housing laws. Promises that – if they’re honored – would help a lot of working families.
Can we count on Dr. Carson to keep those promises? I don’t know. People are right to be skeptical; I am. But a man who makes written promises gives us a toehold on accountability. If President Trump goes to his second choice, I don’t think we will get another HUD nominee who will even make these promises – much less follow through on them.
If Dr. Carson doesn’t follow through on his commitments, I will be the very first person he hears from – loudly and clearly and frequently. I didn’t hesitate to criticize past HUD Secretaries when they fell short, and I won’t hesitate with Dr. Carson – not for one minute.
I understand that some people might have made the call differently. I appreciate your making your thoughts heard. Unlike the new Administration, I don’t believe in ignoring or silencing people who disagree with the choices I make or the votes I take.
We’ve got a lot of nominees to consider, and a lot of places where we need to turn up the heat under the Senate Republicans. (Yes, Betsy DeVos, I’m looking at you. And Pruitt, Mnuchin, Puzder, Price, Tillerson – it’s a long list.) Either way, we need all of us in this fight. Your voices are powerfully important, and I hope you’ll keep speaking up for what you believe in.
Thank you for serving our country and for bravely speaking your voice every day.
Although I am not your constituent, I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful deliberation and honest response about this issue of concern.
Please keep up the fight. People like you give me hope for the future and faith in our democracy in a very dark time.
Respectfully,
Patricia Anderson
YOU AND ALL OTHER DEMOCRATS HAVE ZERO POLITICAL CAPITAL. I am so utterly disappointed in you and the failure of your leadership. Ben Carson, far more so than all other Trump appointees except DeVos, is uniquely unqualified to lead HUD, and your job as a Senator was to express as much.
You failed. You are a failure in a time that requires strength. Maybe another Kennedy can step up and take your seat and actually FIGHT.
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Which in this case is most of Trump's other nominees.
But that's not the world we live in. Playing this game of politics, of negotiation, of compromise, only works where our republic is functioning, albeit poorly.
Our republic is not functioning. A fascist kleptocrat has taken power through foreign interference, institutional abuses of power, suppression of voting rights, and breaches of key democratic norms.
In such a situation, we need a resistance, not an opposition. That means standing up and saying "No" to business as usual.
Maybe had Ben Carson promised to provide a check on Trump's flagrant daily abuses of power, I could understand this vote.
But in casting a vote for him, merely because someone worse could be confirmed, you are normalizing and legitimizing an administration that ought to be opposed in every way until it can be taken down and replaced with a legitimate democratic government.
Do better, Senator Warren.
Defense officials have said year after year that we’ve “turned the corner” in Afghanistan, but I see a vicious cycle that damages our reputation abroad and keeps troops in harm's way. I told U.S. Central Command this week: I support the President’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Lowering the Medicare eligibility age, expanding benefits, capping out-of-pocket costs, and negotiating drug prices would be life-changing for the American people. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and I urge President Biden to take historic action in the American Families Plan.
In the midst of a pandemic that has shown beyond a doubt that the nation needs something like M4A, seventeen senators cannot muster the will to ask for a dramatic change that would actually benefit everyone.
Our system is broken.
Ergo, how to ecpand such a system before it is put on a fibancially sound path???
The atrocities against Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee should never have been honored. I am leading the fight within Congress alongside Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman Kaiali‘i Kahele to take an important step toward righting this profound wrong.

















