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The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to appoint Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security secretary, triggering a full Senate vote on his confirmation.
The committee voted 7-4 to send its candidacy to the Senate on Tuesday, with an additional vote against the nomination expressed by proxy. GOP Senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Rick Scott, Josh Hawley and Rand Paul voted against advancing Mayorkas to a full Senate vote.
Mayorkas testified before the committee last week.
Johnson led the charge among those who registered their opposition, expressing concern over a 2015 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General report that Mayorkas pushed for approval of requests for ‘a program for wealthy immigrant investors on behalf of well-connected Democrats when he was Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“My preference would have been not to publicly release this dirty laundry. I would have hoped President Biden would have made more sense in proposing and pursuing the appointment,” said the outgoing president. He later added: “I have had a good working relationship with Mr. Mayorkas as Deputy Secretary of DHS and I hope to work with him in good faith if he is confirmed as Secretary. I simply cannot support his appointment and urge members not to. also. ”
GOP Senators Rob Portman and Mitt Romney expressed concern over the 2015 report, but ultimately voted in favor of pushing his Upper House nomination.
“We just endured a president for four years, who I will say generously had a relaxed relationship with the truth. And I think we want the highest level of integrity in government positions,” Romney noted , noting that Mayorkas admitted his mistakes in a private conversation and vowed to learn from them.
“It’s tough,” Portman conceded. Ultimately, the Ohio senator felt Mayorkas’ fate was already sealed. “It’s going to be confirmed. The question is how fast is it going to be up,” he told colleagues, stressing the importance of putting a secretary to head DHS as a result. of the Solar Winds cyberattack.
Future Democratic President Gary Peters urged his colleagues to “speed up” Mayorkas’ confirmation “as much as possible”.
“In fact, every day that this confirmation process is delayed, places the American people and our national security at risk from threats posed by domestic terrorism, cyber attacks and the ongoing pandemic and much more,” said Peters.
Senators wished Portman long after he announced his retirement from the Senate in 2022. Then Romney intervened with a laugh, “Don’t worry too much about his departure, because he’s just running his presidential campaign.”
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