Ben Carson endures Dem grilling over minority inclusion office

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson appeared confused by a Democratic lawmaker’s repeated questioning about a minority inclusion office.

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) repeatedly asked Carson during a Tuesday hearing before the House Financial Services Committee if he was familiar with the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI).

{mosads}Carson appeared confused by Beatty’s line of questioning and told her he would follow up with a note identifying the director of the office. But as Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) noted when he spoke at the hearing, Carson’s office does not contain OMWI. 

“I just want to point out the reason why you wouldn’t recognize the term OMWI in HUD is that HUD doesn’t have OMWI,” Zeldin said.

He added that under the Dodd-Frank Act several agencies were required to create an OMWI, but HUD was not one of the government agencies or departments tasked with doing so. 

.@RepLeeZeldin to @SecretaryCarson: “The reason why you wouldn’t recognize the term OMWI in HUD is that HUD doesn’t have OMWI…Pretty unfair question to ask you who the director is of an entity that obviously doesn’t exist within HUD.” pic.twitter.com/BVXtHc9DwC

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 21, 2019

HUD does, in fact, have an Office of Diversity and Inclusion that is under Carson’s watch.

OMWI was not the only acronym that tripped up Carson Tuesday during the hearing.

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) asked Carson about real estate owned (REO) foreclosures, which Carson appeared to confuse with Oreos, the popular chocolate cookie filled with vanilla cream.

Porter responded by clarifying what she said and explaining what an REO is to Carson. 

I asked @SecretaryCarson about REOs – a basic term related to foreclosure – at a hearing today. He thought I was referring to a chocolate sandwich cookie. No, really. pic.twitter.com/cYekJAkRag

— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) May 21, 2019