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US housing department to spend $165,000 on own furniture as it faces $6.8bn budget cut

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) has agreed to spend $165,000 on “lounge furniture” for its Washington headquarters, in addition to a $31,000 dining set purchased for housing secretary Ben Carson’s office.

The revelations on Tuesday of Carson’s expensive decor spending come as Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a cut of $6.8bn to Hud’s annual budget, or roughly 14% of its total spending, which would lead to reductions in programs aimed at poor and homeless Americans.

Department officials signed a contract last September with an Indiana-based seller for the furniture, according to a federal procurement record.

Raffi Williams, a spokesman for Hud, said in an email on Tuesday evening that further records on the lounge furniture contract were not immediately available.

Earlier on Tuesday it emerged that the department had agreed to spend $31,000 on a dining table and accompanying items for Carson’s offices. Last week, Williams falsely denied to the Guardian that such a table had been bought.

Details of the furniture purchases were revealed after a senior career official at Hud alleged in a complaint to a federal watchdog that she was demoted after refusing to break a $5,000 spending limit for improvements to Carson’s office.



Source :- theguardian

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