Treasury, HUD Cabinet Nominees Get Gentle Confirmation Hearings
Two of President-elect George W. Bush’s Cabinet nominees enjoyed clear sailing in their confirmation appearances Wednesday before two Senate committees.
Treasury Secretary-designate Paul H. O’Neill, 65, told the Senate Finance Committee that Bush will send Congress a broad package of tax cuts “in six weeks or so” and may ask that they be made retroactive to Jan. 1.
Cuban-born Mel Martinez, 54, headed for apparent confirmation as Housing and Urban Development secretary after assuring the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee of his intentions to help more low-income Americans buy their own homes.
O’Neill, a former White House aide in the Ford administration who later was credited with turning around aluminum giant Alcoa as its chairman, said the tax cut would not threaten the budget surplus or trigger inflation.
Martinez, Orange County, Fla., chief executive, promised to strengthen HUD and make it more responsive to the nation’s housing needs. Democrats and Republicans alike on the committee hailed Martinez, who fled from Cuba as a teenager, as an embodiment of the American dream.
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