Senate to take final vote Monday on Mullin’s DHS secretary appointment

The Senate is expected to vote Monday night on Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

The Oklahoma Republican was chosen by President Donald Trump earlier this month to replace Kristi Noem, who attracted a flurry of scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans alike for her leadership of the department and her use of taxpayer dollars.

“My goal in six months is that we’re not the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we’re out there, we’re protecting them and we’re working with them,” Mullin said last week at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Mullin cleared a procedural hurdle Sunday with the support of two Democrats — Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — and is expected to be approved by his Senate colleagues.

If approved, Mullin would take over a DHS that’s shut down as Democrats continue to withhold support for a funding package over concerns about immigration enforcement policies. Trump, meanwhile, is trying to jam through an unrelated voter-ID bill and has told Republicans to hold off on a DHS funding deal with Democrats until the SAVE America Act is passed.

Funding lapsed for the agency in February, the month after federal immigration agents in Minneapolis killed two U.S. citizens during an enforcement surge.

Mullin is generally well-regarded by his Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and at his confirmation hearing he signaled he was open to shifting the direction of the agency.

He told the panel he would require immigration agents to obtain judicial warrants to enter private property and said he would like to see ICE become a “transport more than the front line” in immigration enforcement.

“This is going to surprise some people, but I consider Markwayne Mullin a friend. We have a very honest and constructive working relationship,” Heinrich said in a statement on Sunday after supporting Mullin in a procedural vote.

“I have also seen firsthand that Markwayne is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views, and I look forward to having a secretary who doesn’t take their orders from Stephen Miller,” Heinrich continued, referring to the White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor, whom Democrats say called the shots during Noem’s tenure.

Despite the cross-party camaraderie, many Democrats on the Senate panel pressed Mullin on his close ties to Trump, his hardline stances on immigration and a trip he said he took abroad while a member of the House that he said was “classified.”

Mullin got in a spat with the committee Chair Sen. Rand Paul,…