BUDGET/CABINET/HUD/TRUMP PEOPLE/BEN CARSON: “Housing Secretary Ben Carson sought Thursday [3-9-17] to reassure his agency that budget cuts may not be as steep as some fear, even as housing advocates and others brace for deep reductions to public housing and anti-poverty programs.
The cuts said to be under consideration, more than $6 billion, would target community development block grants and some public housing money. The idea would be to help offset some of the $54 billion increase in defense spending that President Donald Trump is seeking.
In an email Thursday to Department of Housing and Urban Development employees, the newly confirmed Carson cautioned that budget numbers were preliminary and that ‘starting numbers are rarely final numbers.’…
The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that early numbers for fiscal year 2018 showed HUD’s overall budget being slashed about 14 percent, to $40.5 billion — including cuts of about $2 billion from public housing funds and the elimination of the Community Development Block Grant Program, which funds local improvement efforts and other programs.”
-The Associated Press, “HUD Could Face Steep Cuts, but Carson Says Numbers Early,” The New York Times online, March 9, 2017