On March 19, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-7 to advance the nomination of Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to succeed Kristi Noem as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. A Senate confirmation vote could take place as soon as the week of March 23, and Noem is expected to leave the agency on March 31.
Committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) crossed party lines, with Rand opposing, and Fetterman favoring, Mullin’s confirmation.
Mullin, a Republican, took heat from both sides of the aisle during his March 18 confirmation hearing. Several lawmakers raised questions about Mullin’s temperament and were skeptical of his willingness to steer the agency in a different direction.
Before the committee’s vote, Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said, “I am very concerned about Sen. Mullin’s willingness to condone political violence and the message it sends to DHS,” adding, “I will vote no.”
Committee chairman Paul expressed similar concerns, citing Mullin’s unwillingness to condemn a violent incident in 2017 in which a neighbor assaulted Paul, breaking several ribs, an attack that led to Paul’s hospitalization.
But some Republican members supported Mullin. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), said, “You might not replace Shakespeare as the next greatest orator on Earth, but you speak from the heart, and that’s okay, you are who you are…sometimes we’re imperfect…and I think that’s what people like, frankly.”
Mullin appeared belligerent at times in his responses to questions from lawmakers, saying he does not condone political violence and calling some of the arguments being made against him “political theater.” He said he “regretted” his remarks disparaging Renee Goode and Alex Pretti after the fatal shootings by federal agents in Minnesota. “Those statements probably should have been retracted … I went too fast,” but added that investigations into those incidents were still ongoing.
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In his prepared remarks, he said: “I’m going to work hard … My goal is to let people know that we’re out there, supporting them.” He added: “We want to restore confidence and reassurance about the department.”
A continuing refrain during the hearing was funding for DHS, which has stalled over fundamental disagreements over the conduct requirements for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. In recent weeks, Democrats have failed to advance a package that would fund all DHS agencies except the secretary’s office and ICE, while lawmakers still sort out their differences over how immigration agents should be handled.
Peters said, “If Republicans really agree with us that TSA and other staff need to be paid, then they should join us and pass bills to pay them today as we continue to negotiate ICE reforms. And let me be clear: these are very simple reforms we’re asking for, we just want ICE to follow the same rules that our local police already do.”
Mullin noted that he would not follow Noem’s policy of requiring requests for disaster response and recovery funding worth more than $100,000 to be reviewed by the department’s secretary, saying he did not support withholding funding for critical construction repairs and response efforts. He added that this insight came from someone who has worked in construction: Mullin was president and owner of his family’s plumbing business, Mullin Plumbing in Oklahoma before joining the Senate.
Kristen Swearingen, vice president of government affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors, said in an email to ENR that Mullin was a member of ABC. “He protects small businesses and believes in free enterprise. He knows the value of hard work. If confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, we hope he will continue to live by those values.”
