Transcripts For CSPAN3 Senate Banking Committee Considers Ho

Programs Like Community Development Block grants and home, cut funding for Public Housing repairs by 70 . We all know the condition of Public Housing. And to cut their funding for repairs by 70 to eliminate funding for 250,000 housing vouchers next year. It reduces the funding for lead housing control to protect children from lead poisoning and other health problems. Senator portman knows in cities in my state, in housing built before senator portman and i were born, the house, the lead conte content, the lead exposure in those homes are overwhelming, in some cases according to the Health Department 99 of those homes have toxic levels of lead. Five months ago in this room dr. Carson scoffed at the notion that he would support a 10 cut in the hud budget. He said he understood from his experience as a pediatric neurosurgeon how it was far less costly to avoid lead poisoning than to treat it. I was one of five or six democrats who voted for his confirmation on the floor of the senate. I did that because of his personal and his public promises on lead. Yet this budget which apparently he is defending thats one of the things we want to hear from you, ms. Patenaude. His budget undermines all of this. Broken promises dont end there. The president promise on the campaign trail to revitalize our inner cities and rebuild infrastructure. I hope we can work with the administration to strengthen our nation. Instead the president proposes to cut more existing infrastructure programs than the 200 billion hes willing to address. The hud budget will only add to the struggles our inner cities. I look forward to haerk from our two witnesses on how to tackle these problems. Thank you senator brown. Now well turn to senator portman to introduce mr. Hassett. Thank you for letting me do this and thank my colleague from ohio, my friend who just spoke, the Ranking Member. Its a pleasure to introduce Kevin Hassett. He is being nominated to serve as the council of economic advisers. Delighted to see that hes got his own team of advisers with him today, his sons jay my and john and his wife christy. Who is the chair by the way of that council. That would be me. Christy is the chair. Weve known you for a long time. Kevin and i served together in the first Bush Administration. George h. W. Bush. He was in the treasury office. I got to know him and respect him. He continued to serve as a policy consultant for the Treasury Department under the Clinton Administration i went on to the house in the ways and Means Committee where i looked to him to provide Economic Council as we tried to reform the tax code. And again, chairman has mentioned thats one of his specialties. Im pleased h hes been nominated for this position. Hes got a lot of respect from economists from both sides of the aisle. His pred says tore as the chair of the council of economic advisers, jason ferman called him on excellent pick. Hes been endorsed by many. He served as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve board of governors as an economic adviser to five major president ial campaigns. I want to point out that kevin is an expert on tax reform. I think this is going to be incredibly important to us. His focus has been on how to have a tax code that gets rid of some of the loopholes and some of the preferences for special interest and a special tax code with lower rates. And i think that again is exactly what we need to get the economy moving. What hes shown is if you can fix a tox code in that way, the major beneficiary would be the middle class families. And that wages are flat right now and the best thing to do to get wages up is actually to reform the tax code. I think thats really important research. Too many of our constituents are feeling. His work in that area has respect on both sides of the aisle. He is the right person at the right time, mr. Chairman. I think as chairman of the council of economic advisers, the difficult task of tax reform among other things will be easier. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words this morning about mr. Hassett. And i strongly support him and i hope the committee will send him to the floor. Thank you, senator portman. Snow senator shaheen, will you introduce ms. Patenaude. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Members of the committee. Pam patenaude to be president trumps nominee to serve as the deputy secretary of the department of housing and urban development. What i have to say is probably overkill after your glowing review of her resume, mr. Chairman. But ms. Patenaudes experience in housing policy goes back nearly three and a half decades beginning in New Hampshire at the New Hampshire Housing Finance agency. That was followed by service as white house liaison at the department of housing and urban development in the reagan administration. Pam and i first got to know each other when i was governor and she served in a succession of high level positions, director of New Hampshire Small Business development centers, state director for then senator bob smith of New Hampshire and assistant deputy secretary at hud. And as you pointed out, she later served in the committee of planning and development with the urban Land Institute. What impressed me always about pam is that she understands that access to Affordable Housing and a safe place to call home is the foundation of families and strong communities. And throughout her career shes been engaged in these challenges as a thinker, a leader and a problem solver. And ive especially appreciated her ability to bring together desperate stakeholder groups, to forge bipartisan agreements in the housing arena and that shes personally dedicated to the core mission of hud, including the challenge of bringing opportunity, as you pointed out, senator brown, to americas most disadvantaged urban kmurncommun. I think our nation is fortunate to have someone of pams high caliber willing and eager to serve in this position in the federal government. And i hope that members of the committee will agree with me that her experience and expertise makes her superbly suited to serve as deputy secretary at hud. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, senator shaheen. We appreciate that introduction. And now before we begin your testimony id like to place both of the nominees under oath. So would you please rise and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. And do you agree to appear and testify before any dually constituted committee of the senate . I do. Thank you very much. You may be seated. And mr. Hassett, you may proceed. Each of you may take a few moments which we wont take away from your time to introduce any members of your family you may wish to introduce. Thank you very much, senator portman for the kind introduction, and Ranking Member brown and distinguished members of the committee. Im truly humbled and honored before you today as president trumps nominee to be the chairman of the council of economic advisers. Im grateful to have a chance to get to know many of you throughout this process. I wish that the people that worry about waurg could have witnessed the private kindnesses that the members of this committee and staff have extended to me in the last few weeks. And id also like to begin as you invited me to, senator, by introducing my College Sweetheart and wife of 31 years, Christy Hassett and next to her, my sons john and james who are sitting behind me. I also like to acknowledge my father john, a korean war veteran and my mother sylvia and sister julia who are no longer with us. Senators ive always been a senator of economics before i knew it. I was raised by two public schoolteachers in the beautiful tuned of greenfield, massachusetts. My mother was a Kindergarten Teacher and my father taught english in greenfield, high school. As i was growing up my town went through a painful transition for the long time time greenfield was a rising mill time with the largest dye operation that employed thousands of citizens. Neighboring falls was also as prosperous, a massive paper mill along the banks of the connecticut river. Times changed, families stopped moving away, graduates stopped coming home after college. When i started studying economics in college and in graduate school i came back to the example of why my town changed. Why did many of the good jobs disappear. Is there something that policymakers can do to restore prosperity. Workers can have high wages if they have high productivity and high productivity is enabled by an amble supply of capital. The real world has many complications that are not included in the models and the data surprise economists especially those with too much confidence in their theories. That observation led me over to years to focus on things that could be learned from the data. My dissertation focused on wages over the business cycle, what did the period when workers prosper have in common. How firms Investment Decisions respond to government policy and how labor and capital interact. Since then my studies have taken me in many directions. But a few things i would like to emphasize about my approach to economics. First its essential to gather evidence and not just rely on theory. Early in my career the Empirical Literature on taxation contained many holes because the country by country day that that one would need for study were not available. My coauthors responded to this by building a tax database and making its Data Available to anyone who wanted it. I believe that Economic Analysis should be transparent and repl rks cable. Open Source Computer codes that allows anyone to score tax plans, see what the assumes are that other use when they score their other plans. They promise to democratize tax debate. Finally while i respect the need for research, my own focus is work that holds the promise of improving the lives of ores and sheds light on the circumstances of those less fortunate, like those in my hometown who lost their jobs when i was growing up. A recent example of this would be my work with the innovation work, exploring the geographic in equality. Eig researches worked hard to identify and measure stress and shed light on the communities around the country that most need your help. Theres an interak tuff map at the website that helps people explore their own communities with a dark red indicating distress. One of the reddest shapes on the maps in massachusetts is turners falls, the town across the river from my dads house where the paper mill closed. This council was created to provide the president with advice, help policymakers Craft Solutions for problems that we face today. Theyve done so admirably. In 2009, christina roomer told this committee that she would do her utmost to protect the integrity and make it a center for unbiased scientific analysis. Members of the committee, if confirmed i pledge to you that i would do the same and that i would enthusiastically and inner jet cli take the helm of this great institution. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Hassett. Ms. Patenaude. Thank you, chairman. Ra Ranking Member brown and distinguished members of the committee. It is a great privilege to appear before you this morning. Im deeply honored by president trumps decision to nominate me as the deputy secretary of u. S. Department of housing and urban development. I want to thank senator shaheen for her thoughtful introduction and a special thanks to my dear friend senator bob deole for joining us this morning. If i may take a moment to introduce my husband and our three daughters. My husband of 32 years, chuck, katelyn, megan and jennifer. And my niece Kristen Hughes who is also here today and the many friends sitting behind me showing their love and support. Housing has always been close to my heart and part of my family history. My late parents bob and estelle that hughes together created and ran a successful Home Building business in New Hampshire. In the hughes house hold there was simply no escaping talk about housing. For that reason it was no surprise to my parents when i came to share their passion for housing. As a senior in college i experienced our nations capital, as many students do as an intern. I never imagined that that internship at hud headquarters 35 years ago would launch a career that continues to inner jazz, challenge and inspire me. Upon graduation i administered the section 8 rental assistance programs at the Housing Authority where i observed first hand the transformational impact that hud programs could have on improving the quality of life for seniors and our most vulnerable citizens. During my career ive served at hud in several leadership roles. As assistant deputy secretary for field property and management, i restrucked huds critical Field Operations and contributed to the development of the fiveyear Strategic Plan. As assistant secretary for Community Planning and development, i administered 8 million in housing funds and managed a team of more than 800 experienced professionals committed to carrying out huds mission. Outside of hud my career is focused on promoting housing principles with the changing needs of the american people. At the urban Land Institute i established a center for Workforce Housing to draw attention to the plight of americas most essential workers, firefighters, police officers, nurses and teaches who are priced out of the communities they search. At the Bipartisan Policy Center i directed the Housing Commission under the stead fast leadership of three of your former colleagues, senator george mitchell, senator kit bonn and senator mel. The commission developed a comprehensive report outlining a new direction for federal housing policy. Currently i serve as the president for housing americas families where we seek to elevate rental availability as a National Priority and to educate policymakers about the silent housing crisis in america. Through these initiatives ive developed strong working relationships with diverse groups, diverse members of the housing community, house builde builders. Im very proud to say that bipartisan collaboration has been a hallmark of these initiatives. My career in housing at the local, state and federal levels of government and in the private sector have broadened my view. This unique perspective allows me to understand the factors that contribute to the success of some programs as well as the factors that diminish the wellintended factors of others. As articulated in the book evicted we have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty. Dr. Desmond believes that powerful solutions are within our collective reach. I agree. I believe as a nation we must recognize that housing is not just a commodity but a foundation for economic mobility and personal growth. If confirmed by the United States senate i pledge to work closely with this committee, with congress and secretary carson to develop new solution to address the Affordable Housing crisis in america and to implement the Critical Mission of the u. S. Department of housing and urban development. I appreciate the communitys thoughtful consideration of my nomination. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, ms. Patenaude. And my first question and i mean brief here because i only have five minutes. But i would like you each to briefly, within 60 seconds, to take a minute to discuss what your priorities will be as you are confirmed. Mr. Hassett. Senator, thank you for the question. If confirmed my First Priority would be frankly to recruit a lot of economists because the council of economic advisers has a protradition of recruiting folks from all across the United States to provide objective device to the president. And unlike a lot of agencies, the Council Turns over a lot. So there are new people coming to town to serve their country all of the time and if confirmed that would be the first order of business for me because the staff would go from 35 to 10 were we not to start recruiting. The second thing i could say, a high priority for me is to increase the transparency of the modelling and the communication that goes on in all of the economic communication. I would like to take the work that ive done at eig where weve made these interactive maps and bring that spirit of transparency to the cea. Thank you. Ms. Patenaude. The first thing i would like to do is hear what the secretary has learned during his first 100 days. From my past experience i know that i need to certainly asays the Human Capital needs and the operations needs of the department and i look forward to working with the secretary on developing a Strategic Plan based on his priorities and those of the administration. Thank you. And ms. Patenaude ill stick with you because im going to go back to both of you with a priority of mine i would like for yo