[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 28, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4522-S4523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of Dana T. Wade

  Madam President, I rise to oppose the nomination of Dana Wade to 
serve as the Federal Housing Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for 
Housing.
  Mrs. Wade has a long record of public service--I credit her for 
that--both in the Senate and this administration. She worked at HUD and 
as staff to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. 
However, the policies that Mrs. Wade has supported during her work in 
the Trump administration led me to believe she is not the right person 
to lead HUD's housing and home ownership programs at this critical 
time.
  Just last year, Mrs. Wade held a senior political role at the Office 
of Management and Budget. During her tenure at OMB, Mrs. Wade signed 
off on budget proposals that would have slashed HUD's funding by 
billions, eliminated CDBG and HOME programs--programs critical to 
affordable housing and community development--and raised rents on the 
lowest income renters. She also signed off on rules that could displace 
more than 55,000 children from their homes. I don't think that is the 
person we want during the pandemic, when all the moratoria on evictions 
expire, when the majority party wants to cut $400 a week from 
unemployed workers--these are unemployed workers--and when eviction 
courts are open. I just question whether Mrs. Wade, even in this 
administration, is the right person to temper some of their actions 
that might end up with more people denied housing.

  She signed off on a rule that denied transgender individuals 
experiencing homelessness the right to seek shelter according to their 
gender identity. She signed off on a rule that cut HUD's affirmatively 
furthering fair housing regulation--an important civil rights 
protection required by the Fair Housing Act, an act written and pushed 
and initially implemented by the father of the Senator from Utah. I 
know he is really proud of his dad, and I know he is really proud of 
HUD's fair housing laws of the late 1960s.
  On Mrs. Wade's watch, HUD and OMB proposed to allow communities to 
ignore and exacerbate segregation even

[[Page S4523]]

as they spend Federal funds. That is not the only civil rights rollback 
that Mrs. Wade oversaw. During her tenure, OMB signed off on HUD's 
proposal to undermine the disparate impact standard under the Fair 
Housing Act--a proposal that the civil rights community, the largest 
mortgage lenders, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the National 
Association of Realtors have all said should not be finalized because 
it could erode civil rights protections. All the groups that deal with 
housing: the conservative groups, the progressive groups, the civil 
rights groups, the firms that make their living from housing, the 
realtors, the mortgage bankers--all of them said: Don't move forward 
with this. She signed off on it with HUD's proposal.
  When I asked Mrs. Wade about her time at OMB, she wouldn't speak 
about the work she did, but she endorsed every one of these policies 
the Trump administration advanced during her tenure.
  Since Mrs. Wade returned to HUD in December, the Trump administration 
has doubled down on its assault on fair housing.
  Just last week, the Trump administration released its final rule, all 
but eliminating communities' legal obligation to affirmatively further 
fair housing. And now President Trump wants Mrs. Wade to oversee FHA 
and critical housing programs for low-income families, for seniors, and 
for persons with disabilities.
  HUD and FHA have an essential role to play in our housing system 
during this pandemic. FHA is designed to play a countercyclical role, 
stepping in to keep the market working during economic downturns like 
the one we are in.
  In the weeks and months ahead, families will need access to 
sustainable mortgages, and renters will need access to safe affordable 
apartments. Homeowners who are struggling to make their payments will 
need forbearance and help getting back on track. At the end of 
forbearance, if we want to avoid a wave of foreclosures--we know what 
is happening with evictions about to happen in a much more concerted 
tidal wave sort of way if Senate Republicans get their way by 
shrinking, by cutting $400 per unemployed worker--$400 a week--and the 
moratorium on evictions expiring and the eviction courts open. We know 
what will happen there. We are also, of course, concerned about the 
subsequent or, at the same time, wave of foreclosures. We need FHA to 
keep up its important work. They can do more. They must do more.
  Over the past several months, following the murder of George Floyd at 
the hands of police and with racial and ethnic health and economic 
disparities exacerbated by COVID-19, our country has finally begun to 
talk about the systemic racism that exists throughout every system, 
including housing. It is the justice system. It is education. We know 
more and more about the huge digital divide. It is the justice system. 
It is education. It is healthcare.
  We know that African-Americans' life expectancies are considerably 
shorter than White Americans. We know the infant mortality rate and 
maternal mortality rate are considerably higher. We know all of those 
things. The American public is finally recognizing them. This is an 
opportunity. With housing, it was Jim Crow; then it was redlining; and 
now it is these rules that the Trump administration is lacking in. 
Conversely to what Mrs. Wade has advocated for, argued for, and done, 
HUD and FHA must be a part of addressing that systemic racism now and 
after this pandemic. FHA could start by helping Black and Brown 
families stay in their homes so we don't repeat the mistakes of the 
2008 crisis, where Black borrowers and Brown borrowers were more likely 
to lose their homes to foreclosure.
  At the end of this pandemic, FHA and HUD's rental programs can also 
help families recover financially and access affordable homeownership, 
maybe for the first time, but it will take a commitment from FHA and a 
commitment from HUD to address the massive inequity that still exists.
  This President, we know, actively undermines fairness in our housing 
system. We saw it again last week when he boasted that he would 
maintain segregation in our communities. It is a political act, of 
course. Just like sending Federal troops into Portland is a political 
act, just like his purporting to stand up to China, which he hasn't 
done for 4 years, is a political act, but we see it now as he divides 
people in the suburbs. Unfortunately, rather than working to fulfill 
the promise of the Fair Housing Act, HUD is aiding the President's 
effort.
  Based on Mrs. Wade's recent work and the policies she has helped to 
advance, I am concerned she will not stand up to the President's 
efforts to turn back the clock on fair housing. She will, instead, in 
all likelihood, help this administration take our housing system in the 
wrong direction. That is why I oppose her nomination.
  I hope, if she is confirmed, she proves me wrong.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. ERNST. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.