The chairmen of three Senate panels that oversee the Department of Housing and Urban Development today denounced plans by HUD to hire 900 people in the few weeks remaining in the Clinton/Cuomo administration.

"This sort of midnight hiring binge is an outrageous abuse of power," said Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. "In the waning days of his administration, President Clinton is making it clear that he will always put politics in front of public interest."

"Message to Secretary Cuomo: HUD's hasty Halloween hiring plan shouldn't happen," said Sen. Kit Bond, chairman of the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. "Packing HUD with appointees during an administration's final hour looks like bad government."

"I see absolutely no justification for hiring an additional 900 people, particularly at the end of an administration that has been unwilling to correct problems within the Department of Housing and Urban Development," said Sen. Wayne Allard, chairman of the Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation. "This is an example of the excesses of a lame-duck administration."