President Donald Trump’s Division of Homeland Safety and Workplace of Administration and Finances nominees will now go to a full Senate affirmation vote.
The Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on Jan. 20 to advance two of President Donald Trump’s cabinet-level nominees, Kristi Noem for Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) secretary and Russ Vought for Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB) director.
The committee superior Noem’s nomination on a 13-2 vote.
Vought’s nomination superior by way of the committee by an 8-7 vote.
Noem and Vought each sat for questioning earlier than the Republican-led Senate committee final week.
The favorable votes by the committee now ship Noem and Vought’s nominations to the Senate ground for a full vote.
Noem Integral to Trump’s Border Agenda
Noem’s speedy affirmation to the DHS function might show instrumental in advancing Trump’s border safety agenda, which was a key precedence of his first administration and is a spotlight as he returns to the White Home.
At her affirmation listening to on Jan. 17, Noem mentioned an early focus might be on processing the ultimate elimination from the USA of unlawful immigrants with felony convictions. She mentioned there are about 425,000 unlawful immigrants that must be deported instantly.
Noem mentioned she and Trump have additionally mentioned reinstating the Migrant Safety Protocols (MPP) of Trump’s first administration. The MPP, sometimes called the “Stay in Mexico” coverage, required migrants in search of to claim an asylum declare to attend in Mexico or one other third-party nation whereas their asylum software was adjudicated.
In its first public assertion since Trump’s return, the White Home launched a listing of administration priorities that embrace new border safety measures. The White Home famous plans to name up U.S. troops to help in these border safety efforts.
Different plans would see the administration designate transnational cartels as overseas terrorist organizations, and use the Alien Enemies Act to start eradicating cartel members from the USA.
Vought Advances on Slender Vote
If the Senate confirms his nomination, Vought would reprise a task he performed throughout the first Trump administration.
In observe, the function of OMB director has been vital in coordinating the manager department businesses to align their actions with the president’s financial and political objectives. Vought stuffed that function within the last two years of Trump’s first time period.
Throughout his affirmation listening to final week, Senate Democrats requested if Vought would withhold funding that Congress has appropriated for sure applications.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the rating member on the committee, famous a 2020 report by the Authorities Accountability Workplace that concluded Vought violated the 1974 Impoundment Management Act to pause overseas help for Ukraine in 2019. This pause in Ukraine-related help fashioned a part of the premise for Trump’s first impeachment case.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Workplace of Administration and Finances Director, Russel Vought, testifies earlier than the Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Occasions
Vought defended OMB’s actions throughout this 2019 holdup in Ukraine-related help.
“We have been engaged in a coverage course of with regard to how funding would stream to Ukraine,” Vought mentioned. “We launched the funding by the top of the fiscal yr.”
Trump has named Matthew Vaeth to function the appearing OMB director, pending Vought’s Senate affirmation.