WASHINGTON -- Two of President Donald Trump's former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41. A few hours later, the Senate backed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary, 62-37.
Carson and Perry are the 17th and 18th of Trump's 22 Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations to win Senate approval.
Carson has never held public office and has no housing policy experience. Republicans have praised the life story of a man who grew up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education.
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Perry, who once pledged to eliminate the Energy Department, has repeatedly promised to be an advocate for the agency and to protect the nation's nuclear stockpile. Perry also pledged to rely on federal scientists, including those who work on climate change.
Perry, who served 14 years as Texas governor, has said he will seek to develop American energy in all forms, from oil, gas and nuclear power to renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
Democrats say they accept Perry's disavowal of his 2011 pledge to abolish the department, but they worry he may not stand up to GOP proposals to slash the department's budget.
Carson, 65, will lead an agency with about 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion. The department provides billions of dollars in housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing. It also enforces fair housing laws and offers mortgage insurance to poorer Americans through the Federal Housing Administration, part of HUD.
Trump lauded Carson last week, calling him a "totally brilliant neurosurgeon" who has saved many lives.
"Ben is going to work with me very, very closely. And HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. If properly done, it's a meaning that's as big as anything there is, and Ben will be able to find that true meaning and the true meaning of HUD as its Secretary," Trump said.
At his confirmation hearing, Carson told lawmakers that he envisioned forging a more "holistic approach" to helping people and developing "the whole person." He didn't offer many details.
Perry, 66, told a Senate committee that he regrets his statement about abolishing the department and said it performs critical functions, particularly in protecting and modernizing the nation's nuclear stockpile.
During Perry's tenure as governor, Texas maintained its traditional role as a top driller for oil and natural gas, while also emerging as the leading producer of wind power in the United States and a top provider of solar power.
Carson, the only black major-party candidate in the White House race, grew up poor. He went on to attend Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School before becoming the first black named as the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
Perry earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Texas A&M University, where he was also a member of the Corps of Cadets and a Yell Leader.
Thursday morning, a sharply divided Senate Finance Committee recommended the confirmation of Seema Verma, a health care consultant who has reshaped Medicaid in several states, to run the nation's Medicare and Medicaid programs.
On a vote of 13 to 12, with every Democrat in opposition, Verma's nomination now moves to the full Senate.
Among those yet to be confirmed is former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who was nominated as agriculture secretary six weeks ago. But the administration still hasn't formally provided the Senate with the paperwork for the nomination, frustrating farm-state senators, who represent many of the core voters responsible for helping elect Trump.
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee needs the paperwork before the chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, can schedule a confirmation hearing.
"I don't know yet," Roberts, R-Kan., said Wednesday when asked about Perdue's information. "I wish to hell I did. We need a champion for agriculture, we need him on board."
Information for this article was contributed by Mary Clare Jalonick of The Associated Press and by Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post.
A Section on 03/03/2017