Barbara Mikulski: “I offer today my strong support for the confirmation of Andrew Cuomo as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban…”

“I offer today my strong support for the confirmation of Andrew Cuomo as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. I want my colleagues to know that Mr. Cuomo is a proven leader in the housing and community development field. For the past 4 years, he has served as the assistant secretary for HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development. While managing a $10 billion portfolio that has doubled over the last 4 years, he helped reduce administrative overhead by 20 percent--helping us to get more bang for the taxpayers buck. Mr. Cuomo's efforts in merging 12 bureaucratic processes into one streamlined system known as consolidated planning won him the Innovations in American Government award for 1996 from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His goal of streamlining, decentralizing, and consolidating programs is one that I have advocated for years as chairman and ranking member of the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. Many of Mr. Cuomo's initiatives were based on the recommendations made by the National Academy of Public Administration in a report that I commissioned as chairman of the subcommittee. Mr. Cuomo has also overseen the implementation of the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative, which has combined local community planning with Federal dollars to help produce new jobs and housing in 72 cities.”