U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, wrote to Craig Trainor, President Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Warren criticized in her letter the track record of the Trump Administration’s enforcement of fair housing laws, which Trainor would inherit if approved.
At a hearing on five Trump Administration candidates today, asked questions of the nominees and made opening remarks:
- Francis Brooke will serve as Assistant Secretary, Department of the Treasury;
- David Peters will serve as Assistant Secretary, Department of Commerce;
- John Jovanovic will serve as Chairman, Export-Import Bank;
- Craig Trainor will serve as Assistant Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD);
- and Ben DeMarzo will serve as Assistant Secretary, (HUD).
“That makes me think you are just not a serious person for this job.” -Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Warren Opening Remarks:
“Mr. Chairman, we have five nominees from four different agencies at today’s hearing, so I want to get right to the point. I’ll start with housing.
“President Trump ran for office on a big promise to the American people: that he would bring down the cost of living. He has not fulfilled that promise—particularly when it comes to the cost of housing.
“His chaotic tariff policy has created uncertainty for homebuilders, homebuyers, and renters. Tariffs have increased the cost of lumber, steel, and everything else needed to build or fix up a house. Since the President’s tariffs began to kick into effect in March, interest rates on mortgages have gone up by nearly a quarter point. For the average family buying a new home, that means about $600 a year in extra costs.
“And the costs keep piling up. Home insurance rates are going through the roof. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that energy bills will go up by 4% compared to last summer. The last thing Americans need is for the Trump Administration to make housing even more expensive. But that is exactly what they are doing.
“The President’s budget proposal calls for the complete elimination of federal programs that help communities build new housing. It calls for tens of billions of cuts to federal housing investments. Meanwhile, the President’s “Big Beautiful Bill” allows companies to continue jacking up rents using illegal AI schemes.
“All of this while the Administration begins to trickle out plans to hastily reprivatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the government sponsored enterprises that were created to provide liquidity and stability to the mortgage market. This is an effort that seems designed to reward President Trump’s billionaire friends, even as economists tell us that it will push mortgage rates for families even higher.
“It’s one disaster after another for homeowners and renters,” Warren said.
Addressing Housing Discrimination: Warren Grills Trump Admin
Sen. Warren, the ranking member, centered her interrogation on Peters’s readiness to implement measures to prevent the UAE from transferring American chips to China and Trainor’s civil rights record.
Ranking Member Warren requested that Trainor arrive at his hearing ready to respond to a number of inquiries, such as the following:
- “Do you believe that all Americans deserve access to housing, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), familial status, and disability?”
- “Will you commit to advocating for a fully staffed, fully functional Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD, even if doing so puts you at odds with other Administration officials?”
- “Will you commit to enforcing the Fair Housing Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act to the fullest extent of the law?”
Warren:
“Thank you Mr. Chairman,” Warren remarked. “So Mr. Trainor, if you are confirmed, you will be responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws barring discrimination in housing. HUD’s website says that the office you would lead, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, “works to eliminate housing discrimination and promote civil rights and economic opportunity through housing.
“Last year, there were more than 34,000 complaints to the Fair Housing office, the most on record in history. That suggests to me there is a problem nationally with housing discrimination.
“Mr. Trainor, you describe yourself as a civil rights lawyer, so I just want to go through your record on civil rights. In 2021, you authored a book review entitled, “George Floyd and the Rise of the Rival Constitution,” where you appeared to agree with arguments that our civil rights laws contributed to the rise of a (quote) ‘rival Constitution’ that threatens our actual Constitution.
“In a 2022 report to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on racial disparities in evictions in New York State, you wrote that while you (quote) “do not doubt good faith views that racial discrimination many decades in the past somehow reveals itself today in New York’s rental market…I do not share this view.
“In your current civil rights enforcement role at the Department of Education, you are being sued by the NAACP and other civil rights groups for advancing a (quote) “legally flawed and unsupported interpretation” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
“Mr. Trainor, given your record, why should we trust that you will fulfill the explicit mission of HUD’s Fair Housing office to ‘eliminate housing discrimination and promote civil rights?'” Warren asked.
Trainor:
“Senator, thank you for that question,” Trainor replied. “I’d look at my career, as a civil rights attorney who has represented hundreds upon hundreds of vulnerable New Yorkers in the worst time of their lives as being often times the only person they can talk to to help them navigate a deeply complex and at times unfair system and that is exactly what I intend to do is to take that experience and to evaluate complaints that come in, investigate that, and vigorously enforce the law if we find violations.”
Warren:
“Well, that’s the problem I’m trying to probe here, Mr. Trainor. You’re currently being sued by civil rights groups. You seem to have come to the conclusion that housing discrimination in New York’s rental market does not exist. You’ve raised questions about the constitutionality of our civil rights laws. Your record is not indicative of someone who will faithfully uphold the civil rights laws. Instead, it reads like somebody who is hostile to the fundamental premise of civil rights. That makes me think you are just not a serious person for this job.
“So Mr. Peters, I’d like to turn to you. As the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, you would be on the front lines enforcing our export controls. Now, export controls are a crucial tool for ensuring that countries like China cannot access our most sensitive technologies and use them, ultimately use them against us.
“In February, Senator Hawley and I wrote to the Commerce Department to express our concern that BIS hadn’t closed loopholes allowing PRC to acquire millions of advanced AI chips. Last month, Senator Banks and I wrote to Nvidia to emphasize our concerns that its new R&D facility in Shanghai could lead to the diversion of advanced chips. Mr. Peters, do you agree that we need to impose robust safeguards to ensure that countries like Saudi Arabia and the United, UAE do not simply take our chips and pass them along to China?”
David Peters, Assistant Secretary-Designate, Export Enforcement at Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS):
“Senator Warren, thank you for your question and I appreciated the opportunity to meet with members of your staff in anticipation of this hearing. As I’m sure you’re aware, you know, BIS essentially is divided into two components. There’s the enforcement side which I hope to lead, there’s also the administrative side, which has the primary responsibility for rulemaking and policy. I view my role, should I be confirmed, as committed to the aggressive enforcement of—”
Sen. Warren interjected as Designate Peters attempted to finish.
Warren:
“Okay, I’m sorry, but I had a very specific question here. Do you agree that we need to impose robust safeguards to ensure that countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE don’t simply take our chips and then pass them along to China?”
Peters:
“I agree, Senator Warren, that we need to be committed to vigorous enforcement of export control laws.”
The two continued to cut in on each other’s rebuttals.
Warren: “Is that a yes, or is that a no?”
Peters: “It—Senator Warren, I believe vigorously—”
Warren: “Is that a yes, or is that a no?”
Peters: “Senator Warren, I understand why you would like to reduce this to a yes or no issue—”
Warren:
“Yeah, it’s actually pretty simple that we need to worry about countries like Saudi Arabia passing, taking the chips from us and then passing them along to China. I get that we don’t send the chips directly to China but I’m very concerned about handing them to a country that in turn hands them to China and I just want to know if you’re worried about that as well.”
Peters:
“We—Senator Warren, transshipment of technologies is already part of our enforcement mechanism— […] — that I will aggressively enforce the law.”
Warren:
“Alright. I think that I’m not going to get an answer here.”
Sen. Warren concluded by expressing interest in learning more about how EX-IM reform will improve the ability of American small businesses to sell their goods overseas, particularly in light of President Trump’s absurd trade war.
She also asked whether Francis Brooke, who is expected to become Assistant Secretary, honestly advises the President that his intermittent tariffs are harming American families and businesses.
To watch the full hearing, click here.
