U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Ranking Member Warren releases Trump nominees’ Questions for the Record responses ahead of executive-session vote

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs published a minority press release in which Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren released written responses from President Donald Trump’s nominees for roles at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Treasury, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the Department of Commerce, arguing that many of the answers were incomplete or non-substantive ahead of a committee vote on the nominations. In the released responses, HUD fair housing nominee Craig Trainor declined to acknowledge sexual orientation as a protected class under the Fair Housing Act and did not give substantive answers on staffing cuts at HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity or on his prior writings. HUD congressional affairs nominee Ben DeMarzo committed to provide responses to congressional inquiries on HUD-related issues including DOGE activities, efforts to reprivatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and reductions in fair housing and civil rights enforcement. Export-Import Bank chair nominee John Jovanovic committed to management transparency and to continued analysis and monitoring of environmental and social impacts of EXIM-financed projects, while Treasury international trade and development nominee Francis Brooke and Commerce export enforcement nominee David Peters declined to give clear answers on, respectively, addressing economic damage from tariffs and implementing safeguards to prevent sensitive U.S. technology from being diverted to China via third countries. The Committee is scheduled to meet in executive session to vote on the nominations.