Senate to confirm Buttigieg and Mayorkas

Senate to confirm Buttigieg and Mayorkas

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Mayorkas was among the first nominated by President Joe Biden and would be the first Latin and immigrant to serve in charge of the department.
His confirmation will fill a critical role in the new administration and he is expected to quickly begin to reverse the Trump administration’s immigration policies while juggling to respond to a global pandemic, threats to national security and restoring a department that has been shaken by the change in leadership and vacancies in recent years.

Mayorkas is Biden’s first candidate to encounter a Republican obstructionist, and his confirmation vote comes after the Senate voted on Thursday to break a Republican obstructionist and advance the nomination.

Biden’s appointment of Buttigieg to be his transport secretary will elevate the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidency to an important position in the federal government. Buttigieg would be the first secretary of the LGBTQ Cabinet confirmed by the Senate.

The choice nurtures a candidate that Biden spoke enthusiastically after the primaries for an important position in his next government and could yield Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is the necessary experience if he runs for president again.

The role of the transport secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure package.

Alejandro Mayorkas and Pete Buttigieg nominated for Biden's Office
Four of the 23 Biden cabinet-level nominees who need Senate approval have been confirmed so far: Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, Janet Yellen as Secretary of the Treasury, Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense and Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer pushed for Mayorkas to be confirmed quickly, but Republicans argued that the candidate was not properly examined on immigration issues and called for an additional hearing on his nomination, halting efforts to quickly install a leader critical of the country’s national security apparatus.

Under former President Barack Obama, Mayorkas served as deputy secretary of homeland security and director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, an immigration agency within the department.

Republican resistance to her nomination has drawn criticism from Democrats, with some calling her indefensible. The resistance comes as the Department of Homeland Security fights the coronavirus pandemic, concerns about national security and immigration.

Last week, DHS issued a threat bulletin due to the continued potential for violence following the presidential inauguration, including concerns that domestic extremists might be encouraged by the attack on the US Capitol earlier this month.

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

Several Republican senators, however, crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in support of breaking the nomination obstruction, including Sens. Mitt Romney from Utah, Susan Collins from Maine, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Rob Portman from Ohio and Shelley Moore Captain from West Virginia.

The use of obstruction – to prevent nominations or legislation – has been a favorite tool of the minority party, something Democrats often did when trying to sabotage and delay the Republican agenda under then President Donald Trump.

While several of Biden’s nominees have been confirmed and moved at a slower pace than some of their predecessors’ cabinet choices, Republicans had not yet threatened to obstruct a candidate until Wednesday. Mayorkas is now the first.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee proposed nominating Mayorkas to the plenary and held a hearing examining the nominee’s qualifications to lead the department.
Biden appoints acting agency chiefs as key Cabinet nominees yet to be confirmed

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

Several Republican Party senators, led by Texas Senator John Cornyn, called for an additional hearing, citing Mayorkas’ role in overseeing many of the Biden government’s immigration policies.

“The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over issues related to immigration and nationality … For this reason, all members of the committee should have the opportunity to hear Mr. Mayorkas directly and publicly discuss with him his plans regarding components and functions Department immigration policy, “said a letter from the senators making their request.

Cornyn told reporters last week that “there are a lot of problems” with the Mayorkas nomination.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who will chair the Judiciary Committee, told CNN about the request for a hearing: “I don’t see why this is necessary” and called it “totally political”.

“This is indefensible,” said Durbin. “We are retaining the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security.”

CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.

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