On Monday evening, the Senate voted to confirm Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R) to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Mullin, who was picked by President Donald Trump earlier this month to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was confirmed on a largely party-line vote. Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined nearly every Republican to clinch his nomination.
Before voting to support the nomination, Heinrich said he crossed party lines because he has seen that Mullin — who co-chairs the Senate Legislative Branch spending committee with him — “is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views.”
“And I look forward to having a secretary who doesn’t take their orders from Stephen Miller,” Heinrich said.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the only Republican to vote against Mullin, citing their chilly relationship and Mullin’s past comments that his 2017 assault was “justified.”
Mullin’s confirmation also saw the close of a whirlwind month in which Noem was reassigned after an explosive pair of hearings on Capitol Hill, as well as the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
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