The Senate confirmed Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) as the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on Sunday during a weekend vote, as Republicans overcame efforts by Democrats to delay the process by using procedural hurdles.
Noem did not receive unanimous consent from Senators to fast-track a vote on her nomination, facing a brief delay. Republicans decided to stay the weekend to get more of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in place, with an emphasis on national security nominees.
Noem was confirmed on Sunday, 59-34, with six Democrats voting with Republicans to confirm her nomination. Noem’s nomination advanced out of committee in a 13-2 vote on Monday. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) were the only two lawmakers who voted in opposition during the committee vote.
While Noem faced minimal pushback from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, some Democrats raised concerns about Trump politicizing wildfire aid to California during her confirmation hearing.
Noem, a former GOP congresswoman and now the governor of South Dakota, vowed to ensure Biden-era immigration initiatives would be shut down as soon as Trump took office. She vowed to end CBP One, a phone app run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to schedule appointments and receive documents for immigrants outside the country.
Noem, who has limited experience with immigration policy, indicated during her hearing that she would be working with homeland security adviser Stephen Miller and “border czar” Tom Homan. She also indicated that Trump himself would be making most of the decisions.
“Well, the president will be in charge of the border,” Noem said during her testimony.
During her hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) pushed Noem on whether she would withhold federal funding from a state or location at the order of Trump, a reference to Trump’s previous threat not to give Federal Emergency Management Agency aid to people in California.
Noem promised to exercise “no political bias” in consideration of who to release federal funding to and vowed to stay within the confines of the law, saying if someone were eligible, they would receive the funding.
Noem will be the third former governor to lead DHS. Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden is set to take over for Noem as governor automatically, although it’s unclear how quickly that will happen.
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She will oversee the DHS, a 245,000-employee federal department whose mission is protecting the people of the United States. As governor of South Dakota, Noem has put an emphasis on cybersecurity in an effort to bolster the industry there. She was one of the first governors to ban TikTok from state devices in 2022.
Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Defense Secretary Friday night, after Vice President JD Vance had to break a 50-50 tie due to Sen. Mitch McConnell voting against Hegseth. The upper chamber has a busy week ahead with the confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the intelligence community, and the FBI, along with a number of confirmation votes looming.
