Kristi Noem confirmed as secretary of homeland security
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on January 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, the firebrand who gained a national spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic, was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday.
The vote was 59-34.
During her confirmation hearing, Noem said the southern border is “not secure” and that she will help to fix it.
“President Trump needs to achieve this mission because two-thirds of Americans support his immigration and border policies, including the majority of Hispanic Americans,” Noem said in her opening statement. “I was the first governor to send National Guard troops to our southern border when Texas asked for help and when they were being overwhelmed by an unprecedented border crisis. If confirmed as secretary, I’ll ensure that our exceptional, extraordinary Border Patrol agents have all the tools and resources and support that they need to carry out their mission.”
The Department of Homeland Security already shut down the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to make appointments at the border to claim asylum — something Noem promised the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee she’d do.
Noem will oversee 22 agencies with more than 260,000 employees who work on issues ranging from the border to federal disaster management to the Secret Service.
“As secretary, I will oversee the Secret Service, an agency that is in serious need of reforms. We all saw the threats to President-elect Trump last year and the consequences of failure,” Noem said. “Now, that should never happen again, and I’ve worked closely with my own gubernatorial protective detail, and I’m familiar with what works and what doesn’t work, and I’ll bring that experience towards strengthening the Secret Service.”
The incoming secretary said she will follow the law and implement reforms with no political bias, including with regard to disaster relief.
She added that “if given the chance to be secretary of homeland security, that I will deliver the programs according to the law and that it will be done with no political bias.”
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The stopgap spending plan negotiated between House Republicans and Democrats to avoid a government shutdown appears to be dead two days before the deadline after it was condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk.
Johnson’s original plan called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
In a joint statement Wednesday afternoon, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on Congress to “pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and [President Joe] Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said.
Later Wednesday evening, Trump threatened any Republican in the House who voted for a clean bill.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025.”
In another post, Trump also pushed Republicans to deal with the debt limit before he takes office, saying if they don’t, “he’ll have to ‘fight ’til the end’ with Democrats.”
“This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats!” he wrote. “They are looking to embarrass us in June when [the debt limit] comes up for a Vote. The people that extended it, from September 28th to June 1st, should be ashamed of themselves.”
Scalise says ‘hopefully tomorrow’ the House will have deal Congress faces a deadline Friday, when the current government funding extension expires, to pass a new bill before a government shutdown kicks in.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters late Wednesday that negotiations on government funding remained ongoing after a “productive” late-night meeting in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
“We are going to continue to work through the night to the morning to get an agreement we can bring to the floor,” Scalise said, adding “hopefully tomorrow” the House can “get it resolved.”
Among those in the speaker’s office for negotiations was Vance, who told reporters the conversation was “productive,” adding, “I think we will be able to solve some problems here.”
In his remarks to reporters, Scalise said Trump “wants to start the presidency on a sound footing, and we want him to as well. And I think that’s one of the things we’re all focused on,” he said.
Scalise added, “There’s a lot we want to get done starting in January. But obviously we’ve got to get through this first. And we are going to get it resolved.”
Asked if the debt limit is going to be part of any new agreement, as Trump has called for, Scalise said: “We are not there yet. We are still having conversations with our members with a lot of other folks too just to make sure that everybody is on the same page. But we are still talking about some good ideas that will address some of the issues our members raised today. And then make sure we take care of the disaster victims.”
What Elon Musk said
Earlier Wednesday, Musk came out against the bill, going so far as to threaten lawmakers who voted for it.
After posting on X that “This bill should not pass,” Musk escalated his rhetoric, warning that “any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”
“Please call your elected representatives right away to tell them how you feel! They are trying to get this passed today while no one is paying attention,” he implored his over 200 million followers.
He later posted that “No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office.”
Republican leaders had been discussing a clean short-term funding bill, but specifics are unclear, sources told ABC News. This comes less than a day after Republicans unveiled the legislative text that was the product of bipartisan and bicameral negotiations.
What Democrats are saying
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Democrats were not inclined to vote for a clean bill.
“An agreement is an agreement,” Jeffries told reporters.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” he said. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Musk’s post during an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning. He appeared to not worry about Musk’s post influencing the ability of the funding bill to get through both chambers ahead of a partial government shutdown deadline at the end of the day Friday.
“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and I are on a text chain together and I was explaining to them the background of this. Vivek and I talked last night about midnight, and he said ‘look I get it.’ He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position,'” Johnson said.
Johnson said Musk and Ramaswamy, the two DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) leaders, are aware of the tough spot the speaker is in with a slim majority and Democratic control of the Senate and White House. DOGE is an outside-of-government (or private) operation.
“We gotta get this done because here’s the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the American first agenda. That’s what we are going to run with gusto beginning January 3 when we start the new Congress,” he said.
Johnson, whose speakership has been characterized by beating back criticism from his far-right flank, had originally promised a clean bill that would solely extend current levels of government funding to prevent a shutdown. However, natural disasters and headwinds for farmers, necessitated additional federal spending.
In the end, the bill included $100 billion for recovery efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and another $10 billion for economic assistance for farmers.
Johnson at an earlier press conference said his hands were tied after “acts of God” necessitated additional money.
“It was intended to be, and it was, until recent days, a very simple, very clean [continuing resolution], stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have unified government,” he said. “We had these massive hurricanes in the late fall, Helene and Milton, and other disasters. We have to make sure that the Americans that were devastated by these hurricanes get the relief they need.”
Still, Republican spending hawks cried foul, accusing Johnson of stocking the bill with new spending without any way to pay for it and keeping the bill’s creation behind closed doors.
“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy said.
Musk, too, mocked the size of the bill.
“Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” he posted on X, along with a picture of the bill stacked on a desk.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Katerine Faulders contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, are continuing to try to shore up support with senators ahead of confirmation hearings next month.
Gabbard will meet with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Thursday. She is also expected to meet with GOP Sen. Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees.
This is Gabbard’s first week making the rounds on Capitol Hill since being tapped by Trump to oversee a sprawling network of 18 agencies in his new administration, despite her inexperience in the intelligence field.
A former Democratic congresswoman and member of the National Guard, Gabbard has face scrutiny for 2017 meetings with Syria’s authoritarian leader Bashar Assad (whose regime was toppled this week) and for controversial views on Russia.
Trump remarked on Gabbard, and his other Cabinet picks, during his interview with Time for the magazine’s “Person of the Year” honor. The interview was conducted on Nov. 25.
Trump said he was surprised by the criticism of Gabbard.
“I mean, I think she’s a great American,” he said. “I think she’s a person with tremendous common sense. I’ve watched her for years, and she has nothing to do with Russia. This is another, you know, a mini Russia, Russia, Russia scam.”
When asked if he’d rethink her possible appointment if foreign allies began withholding intelligence, Trump said, “I think probably, if that’s what’s happening. No, I don’t see it. Certainly, if something can be shown to me.”
Hegseth, another embattled Trump pick, is also back on Thursday to meet with senators, including Kentucky Republican Rand Paul. Notably, he’s also expected to meet with Democrat Sen. John Fetterman, the first to meet with him.
Hegseth’s faced pushback amid allegations of sexual impropriety, public drunkenness and other misconduct — which he’s largely denied. But this week, it appeared he was gaining some Republican support.
Trump’s doubled down on support for Hegseth, and pressure from his MAGA allies on potential GOP skeptics has shown early signs of paying off.
Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, was also spotted back in the Senate hallways on Thursday.
Trump, in the Time interview, was pressed on if he was still considering recess appointments to install his Cabinet picks. Recess appointments would bypass the Senate’s constitutionally-mandated “advice and consent” role regarding Cabinet officials. Trump made a demand that whoever leads the Senate Republican Conference in the new Congress be open to them.
“I really don’t care how they get them approved, as long as they get them approved,” Trump said.
“But I think I have a very good relationship with Senator Thune and the others, all of them. I think almost, almost everybody, many of them I was very instrumental in getting, if not this season, last season, the season before that, I would say more than half,” Trump added.
So far, one of Trump’s pick faced insurmountable opposition.
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, also accused of sexual misconduct, was Trump’s first pick for attorney general. Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as opposition mounted to his selection.
Trump was asked by Time what he’d do if the Senate balked at any more of his choices.
“Well, I don’t think they will,” he said. He said he told Gaetz, “You know, Matt, I don’t think this is worth the fight.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Sunday that he has no concerns about President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence.
Gabbard, a vocal non-interventionist, has seen her credentials come under scrutiny, particularly in light of a regime change in Syria and her covert meeting with former strongman Bashar Assad in 2017, which occurred after he had used chemical weapons on protesters. She later said Assad was “not the enemy of the United States.”
“I know Tulsi Gabbard. She’s a patriot. She served our country honorably. She, I think, fits the reform agenda. President Trump ran on disrupting permanent Washington and having people who are going to view things differently,” Schmitt told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “There’s a lot of reform, George, that needs to happen in those agencies. Tulsi Gabbard is somebody who I think can execute on that.”
“I don’t think it’s unusual for members of Congress to visit foreign countries and talk to foreign leaders,” he said of the former Democratic congresswoman. “President Trump, I think, believes in engaging in diplomacy, solving these things.”
Gabbard has begun meeting with senators on Capitol Hill to try to get the votes she’ll need from them for confirmation, though her chances have coincided with a wider debate over the U.S. role in Syria.
Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of events there, although there are 900 U.S. troops in the country to fight remaining ISIS pockets. Trump has not definitively said what he plans to do with those troops.
“I think that’s a longer discussion, and a discussion that President Trump had in his first term,” Schmitt said. “I do think we’re entering a new phase, though, of realism in this country. President Trump would be less interventionist, and we get back to our core national interests, principally defending the homeland, the Indo-Pacific and China.”
“Understanding what terrorism means around the world is important, but having these trip wires in other regions that pull us into wars, I think the American people have had enough of that,” he added when pressed on the risks of an ISIS resurgence if U.S. troops leave Syria.
Gabbard is just one of many Trump picks who will need to win confirmation.
Stephanopoulos also pressed Schmitt on Kash Patel, the president-elect’s choice to lead the FBI.
Patel is a top Trump loyalist who has railed against the “deep state” and pushed to eliminate the FBI’s intelligence gathering capabilities, leading some critics to say that he’d politicize the bureau in Trump’s favor.
Asked about Patel’s book “Government Gangsters,” in which he included a 60-person “enemies list,” Schmitt dismissed that as a “footnote” in the book and insisted that Patel does not have an “enemies list.” Schmitt said Patel would bring change to an agency that many Republicans have grown to distrust.
“That agency is in desperate need of reform. Kash Patel is very qualified, and I think he’s going to get the support in the Senate,” Schmitt said.
On Trump’s promise to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, Schmitt said the president-elect would look at pardons on an individual basis and decipher between violent and non-violent offenders, which he said is the “exact right approach.”
“I think you do separate violent acts from non-violent acts, but I think he’s been pretty clear he’s going to view these individually,” Schmitt said.
