The Senate will confirm Buttigieg and Mayorkas

The Senate will confirm Buttigieg and Mayorkas

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Mayorkas was one of President Joe Biden’s first announced candidates and would be the first Latino and immigrant to head the department.
His confirmation will play a critical role in the new government, and he will be expected to quickly begin to respond to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, while responding to a global pandemic, threats to national security, and a department recovery led by leadership turnover and vacancies in recent years.

Mayorkas is the first candidate for Biden to meet a Republican filibuster, and his confirmation vote comes after the Senate voted Thursday to break a GOP filibuster and advance the nomination.

Biden’s appointment of Buttigieg as his secretary of transportation will elevate the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to a top job in the federal government. Buttigieg would be the first secretary confirmed by the Senate.

The choice that a candidate Biden spoke of after the primary candidate spoke in a leading position in his incoming government could earn Buttigieg, which many Democrats believe is necessary, should he be re-elected president.

The role of transport secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden’s pursuit of a dual infrastructure package.

Nominees from the Biden Cabinet, Alejandro Mayorkas and Pete Buttigieg
Four of Biden’s 23 Senate-approved candidates have so far been confirmed: Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense and Avril Haines as National Intelligence Director.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer insisted that Mayorkas be confirmed quickly, but Republicans argued that the nominee had not been properly looked into on immigration issues and called for an additional hearing on his nomination, which efforts to quickly become a critical leader of country’s national security apparatus.

Under former President Barack Obama, Mayorkas served as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an immigration agency within the department.

The Republican setback on his nomination has drawn criticism from Democrats, and some call it indefensible. The resistance comes as the Department of Homeland Security grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, national security and immigration.

Last week, DHS issued a threat bulletin because of the continuing potential for violence in the aftermath of the presidential inauguration, including concerns that domestic extremists could be encouraged by the U.S. Capitol attack earlier this month.

The department has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since Homeland Security Minister Kirstjen Nielsen was sacked in the spring of 2019.

Several Republican senators, however, crossed party lines to vote with the Democrats to break the filibuster of the nomination, including sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito. of West Virginia.

The use of the filibuster – to thwart nominations or legislation – has long been a popular tool of the minority party, something Democrats have regularly done to try to derail the Republican agenda under then-President Donald Trump.

While several of Biden’s nominees have been confirmed and moving at a slower pace than some of his predecessors’ cabinet elections, Republicans have not threatened to filter a nominee until Wednesday. Mayorkas is now the first.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee upheld Mayorkas’ nomination and held a hearing examining the qualifications of the nominee to lead the department.
Biden mentions the acting heads of the agency as the most important nominees of the cabinet

But some Republicans have called for a separate hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in addition to its hearing before the Homeland Security Committee.

Several GOP senators, led by Senator John Cornyn of Texas, called for the additional hearing, citing Mayorkas’ role overseeing much of the Biden government’s immigration policy.

“The committee for the judiciary has jurisdiction over matters of immigration and nationality … Therefore, all members of the committee should have the opportunity to hear directly from Mr Mayorkas and discuss his plans regarding him in public. components and functions of the department, ” reads a letter from the senators directing their request.

Cornyn told reporters last week there were a number of issues with the nomination for Mayorkas.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, told CNN of the trial request: “I do not know why it is necessary” and called it “completely political.”

“It’s indefensible,” Durbin said. “We are withholding the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security.”

CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.

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