President Donald Trump's nominee to be the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, has less to worry about than most Cabinet nominees. After all, the junior senator from Oklahoma and five-term GOP representative has a bit of an in with his Senate panel.
By most accounts, Mullin is well-liked on Capitol Hill and on both sides of the aisle. And traditionally speaking, senators tend to get confirmed easily by their colleagues. Just look at Marco Rubio's cakewalk to confirmation as secretary of state, even during the fraught political climate that enveloped the beginning of Trump's second term.
The problem Senate Democrats have is not with Mullin himself, but with the position he's intended to fill. DHS was a mess even before outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem's yearlong tenure began. The sprawling tangled web of agencies cobbled together in 2002 has spent its entire existence amid a perpetual identity crisis. The agency's current focus on immigration — to the detriment of all other security responsibilities — is one that Mullin will be poorly situated to change. This leaves many unanswered questions. This is a preview of Hayes Brown's latest article. Read the full column here. Follow MS NOW's live blog coverage today for the latest updates on DHS secretary pick Markwayne Mullin's confirmation hearing, DNI Tulsi Gabbard's Senate testimony and more. |
