Senate advances Mullin to head Department of Homeland Security |
Senate advances Mullin to head Department of Homeland Security
The Senate voted Sunday to advance Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) nomination to succeed Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security, taking a step toward restoring stability at a department that has been in turmoil since the fatal shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The Senate voted 54 to 37 to advance Mullin, setting up a final vote on his nomination for Monday or Tuesday.
Mullin picked up the support of centrist Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who cast a critical vote for his colleague in the Homeland Security Committee last week after the committee’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), voted “no,” citing concerns over Mullin’s temperament.
Fetterman said he backs Mullin’s nomination because he sees him as an improvement over Noem and someone with whom he has a “constructive working relationship.”
“We must reopen DHS. My aye is rooted in a strong committed, constructive working relationship with Sen. Mullin for our nation’s security,” Fetterman said.
Democrats generally like Mullin, who’s known as a straight-talking negotiator among his colleagues, but they have serious concerns about the management of the Homeland Security Department, which they have refused to fund since Feb. 14 unless the White House agrees to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) praised Mullin as “competent” and “honest” and suggested that Mullin’s confirmation could open the way to more productive talks to reform the Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement operations.
“This is going to give us an opportunity to have real discussion about what’s going on with the Department of Homeland Security,” Welch said during a CNN interview earlier this month.
But some Senate Democrats have expressed concern that the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement will continue to be dictated by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whom they view as a hard-liner on the issue.
Sen. Chris Coons (Dela.), a centrist Democrat who has traveled with Mullin on congressional delegation trips and worked with him on various issues, said he voted “no” because Mullin hasn’t committed to making major reforms at Homeland Security.
“DHS needs a foundational shift, and I am unsure if Senator Mullin — or any Trump-appointed nominee — is capable of carrying it out. I consider every cabinet nominee with the same criteria: qualifications, independence, and vision for the department. Unfortunately, Senator Mullin is not willing to commit to the kind of independence and reforms that DHS needs, and I will be voting no on this nomination,” Coons said in a statement explaining his vote.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he voted against Mullin because of his votes against certifying the 2020 election results when he served in the House.
“DHS is entrusted with many responsibilities. One important priority is working with state and local officials to protect the integrity of American elections. Senator Mullin’s votes against certifying 2020 election results when he served in the House of Representatives jeopardized American democracy by giving credence to baseless conspiracies about our elections. That makes him the wrong person to serve as the DHS Secretary,” Kaine said in a statement.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) stood up on the Senate floor Sunday to praise Mullin’s work as a senator and to urge his Democratic colleagues to vote for him.
“Every senator knows it. He’s smart, he’s thoughtful, he has good friends on both sides of the aisle,” he said.
He argued that Mullin may work more across the aisle, with both senators and House lawmakers, than perhaps any other senator, calling him “exactly the kind of leader we need at Homeland Security this moment.”
Paul confronted Mullin at this confirmation hearing last week over his comments to constituents in Tulsa in February calling Paul a “freaking snake” over attempting to amend an appropriations package to strip out money for refugee welfare programs.
Mullin said he understood why Paul’s neighbor tackled him during a dispute over yard maintenance.
Paul told Mullin he has “anger issues” and questioned whether he has the temperament to lead the Homeland Security Department.
President Trump began floating Mullin’s name to GOP senators as a possible replacement for Noem after her disastrous performance at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on March 3.
Republican senators familiar with the issue said that Trump was livid by Noem’s claim that the president signed off on a controversial $220 million national advertising campaign promoting her leadership of the Homeland Security Department.
Trump told Reuters in an interview that he “never knew anything about” the advertising campaign.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, have asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether she made false statements before both committees.
Trump’s announcement that he would tap Mullin to replace Noem came so suddenly that it caught Mullin by surprise.
“I am super excited about this opportunity. It came — not as a complete surprise — but it came at a little bit of a surprise for us,” Mullin told reporters on the Capitol steps shortly after Trump announced Noem’s ouster on March 5.
Mullin said at the time that he would try to pick up Democratic support for his nomination by listening to the concerns about the management of the Homeland Security Department.
“We’re going to try to earn everybody’s vote. I want people to understand, when I go into this position, yes, I’m a Republican, yes, I’m conservative but the Department of Homeland Security is to keep everybody [safe,] regardless of if you support me or you don’t support me, regardless of what your thoughts are,” he said.
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