Lawmaker may oppose HUD nominee

Acting HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson ran into some tough questioning Thursday at the Senate Banking Committee hearing on his nomination to assume the department's top job, with one Republican senator threatening to vote against his nomination.

Democrats posed the most questions, challenging HUD policies as harmful to the poor and needy. Jackson, a deputy secretary who ran local housing authorities in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Dallas, has been heading the department since former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez resigned late last year to pursue a candidacy for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. If confirmed, Jackson would become the third African-American in the Cabinet, joining Secretary of State Colin Powell and Education Secretary Rod Paige.

"Committee members are acutely aware of HUD's troubled past," Jackson said in his statement. "Throughout its history, the department has been plagued by management challenges that left it vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse."

Jackson pledged to continue administration efforts to correct those failings.

"We are striving to make HUD work better and smarter than it has in years," he said.

But Banking ranking member Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., challenged Jackson over HUD's budget, sharply criticizing what he called deep cuts in the amounts available in the budget for the housing vouchers program. Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., also said he had "serious concerns about the adequacy of funding" for some programs.

But it was Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo, who made the only outright threat to vote against the nomination. Allard said HUD is writing and promulgating new rules governing various housing transactions without regard to the clear direction and intent of Congress.

"If HUD continues to press forward" with programs Congress does not support, Allard said, "I will be unable to support this nomination at this time."