US housing department to spend $165,000 on own furniture as it faces $6.8bn budget cutThe 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. Department officials signed a contract last September with an Indiana-based seller for the furniture, according to a federal procurement record. 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. The contract is described as being for “secretary’s furniture”. “That’s what you were asking about, was the decorating budget, and no table was bought with the decorating budget,” said Williams.

Source: The Guardian February 28, 2018 00:03 UTC