CABINET/BEN CARSON/HUD: "Carson frequently used his public platform and his presidential run to decry government overreach and drawn on his personal success story to argue against government welfare programs and in favor of a by-the-bootstraps attitude.
He has said the government's social welfare programs, including housing subsidies, make the poor 'dependent' on the government and has called poverty 'really more of a choice than anything else,' making a case for personal responsibility. And he called for slashing public assistance programs indiscriminately.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the committee, and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, pressed Carson about those criticisms and nudged him to go on the record that he would uphold HUD's mission and that he supports its programs.
Carson conceded that he believes HUD's rental assistance program is 'essential' and said it would be 'cruel and unusual' to retire government assistance programs without a proper replacement. He also assured the committee that he would advocate for HUD's budget and not seek to gut the agency."
– “Ben Carson sits for hearing amid questions about qualification,” CNN Politics online, Jan 12, 2017, Jeremy Diamond, 1/12/2017