Senate Banking Committee grills six Trump nominees on housing, banking oversight, sanctions and export controls

The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on April 15 heard confirmation testimony from six administration nominees who would lead parts of housing, bank supervision, sanctions enforcement and export controls, with senators clashing over President Trump’s new tariff policy and recent bank failures.

Chairman Tim Scott opened the hearing by praising the nominees’ credentials and urging expedited confirmation so they can begin work. Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren led Democrats’ criticisms, calling the administration’s tariff strategy “self-inflicted” economic damage and warning it could amplify risks in the financial system.

The nominees introduced themselves and answered rounds of questions. Andrew Hughes, nominated to be deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said he would prioritize increasing housing supply, cutting “unnecessary barriers to homeownership,” and continuing a HUD regulatory reform task force. David Woll, nominated for HUD general counsel, described his career as a prosecutor and as a HUD deputy general counsel, and pledged to advise the department to follow the law and the Constitution.

Democratic senators pressed both HUD nominees about program cuts and litigation. Senator Jack Reed asked about the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which Hughes said is under litigation and he could not discuss in detail. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and others pressed Hughes on staffing and field-office appointments in Nevada and other states; Hughes said Secretary Scott Turner had begun an inventory of HUD field offices and that decisions were not final. Woll was asked by Senator Cortez…