{"id":20247,"date":"2026-03-19T12:01:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-markwayne-mullins-rockier-than-expected-road\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T12:01:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:01:45","slug":"capitol-agenda-markwayne-mullins-rockier-than-expected-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-markwayne-mullins-rockier-than-expected-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Markwayne Mullin\u2019s rockier-than-expected road"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s Markwayne Mullin\u2019s day of reckoning after a fiery Senate hearing Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Republican will likely secure the votes he needs at the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Thursday, though it\u2019s not a sure thing. If things go as expected, he could be confirmed as DHS secretary early next week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

But Wednesday\u2019s drama at HSGAC \u2014 the only obvious chokepoint for his nomination \u2014 heralds some real issues going forward given the fierce opposition Mullin encountered from Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and tough questioning from Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u2014 One angry chair:\u00a0<\/b>Paul told reporters Mullin\u2019s anger issues and his expression of sympathy for the man who attacked and severely injured Paul in 2017 means \u201che\u2019s unfit to be leading a large law enforcement agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Paul made clear his personal opposition would not preclude showing \u201ccourtesy to the White House,\u201d and he vowed to move forward with Thursday’s 9:30 a.m. vote.<\/p>\n

The chair predicted Mullin would still advance with the help of at least one Democrat. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) appears open to supporting Mullin, though he would not commit publicly to backing him Wednesday, saying only his \u201cmind is still open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Mullin stalls in the panel vote, Paul suggested the White House could ask for a \u201cnegative recommendation,\u201d allowing a floor vote to proceed. \u201cI mean, there are things I would consider,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But he also made clear he will be watching Mullin closely as he takes the reins at DHS \u2014 especially immigration enforcement agencies that have been plagued by use-of-force controversies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go fast with the nomination hearing. We\u2019re going to go fast with the vote. But I can\u2019t vote for a guy who\u2019s got anger\u201d issues, Paul said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Many skeptical Democrats:<\/b> Mullin presented himself during Wednesday\u2019s hearing as a different type of leader than ousted Secretary Kristi Noem. Democrats weren\u2019t receptive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal at six months is that we\u2019re not in the lead story every single day,\u201d Mullin said. \u201cMy goal is for people to understand we\u2019re out there. We\u2019re protecting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullin indicated he\u2019d reverse a controversial administration decision allowing ICE agents to enter homes with only an administrative warrant, not a signoff from a judge. Ending that practice is a huge sticking point for Democrats in DHS funding talks.<\/p>\n

But several HSGAC Democrats like Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ruben Gallego of Arizona said after the hearing that Mullin\u2019s comments aren\u2019t a ray of hope for breaking the shutdown impasse. At least not yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpenness [to judicial warrants] doesn\u2019t mean anything to me until I see it in actual legislation,\u201d Gallego told Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gabbard takes the stand again: <\/b>The House Intelligence committee will have a hearing on worldwide threats to American security, with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other officials at 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sanders to force vote on Israel arms sale: <\/b>Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is introducing joint resolutions of disapproval<\/a> Thursday over several U.S. arms sales to Israel amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, his office tells Blue Light News. The resolutions take aim at a combined $658 million worth of munitions sales.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Next Epstein deposition: <\/b>Darren Indyke, a lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein and a co-executor of his estate, will testify before the House Oversight committee Thursday in a highly anticipated closed-door deposition. Eager for answers about Epstein\u2019s crimes, lawmakers are amid a series of closed-door sessions with people who are seen as close to the late convicted sex offender, including his accountant Richard Kahn and client Les Wexner.<\/p>\n

Jordain Carney and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Markwayne Mullin\u2019s day of reckoning after a fiery Senate hearing Wednesday. The Oklahoma Republican will likely secure the votes he needs at the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Thursday, though it\u2019s not a sure thing. If things go as expected, he could be confirmed as DHS secretary early next week, Senate Majority Leader […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}