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Congressional Daily Record
This section covers nominations, confirmations, or other executive branch business. It mentions members such as James Lankford.
Official title: Nomination of Markwayne Mullin (Executive Session)
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March 23, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, in just a few moments, this body will vote for the next Secretary of Homeland Security. It happens to be a friend of mine. His name is Markwayne Mullin.
enough—is the easternmost town in our State. On a normal day, there are more people inside the U.S. Capitol than there are in all of Westville, OK. But it is a bunch of really nice folks that work really hard, and Markwayne Mullin has risen from being a country boy in a cow- calf operation with his dad, running a very small plumbing company, to now being nominated, and tonight being confirmed as our next Secretary of Homeland Security.
wasn't his graduation from Stilwell High School. It is the girl that he met in the third grade.
all the way until she was 18 and he was 19 before they got married. And now, decades later and six children later, that proud family will now be the lead family to be able to serve to keep every family safe in the country.
Responsibility at Homeland Security is dramatic. There are a quarter million Federal employees that work for the Department of Homeland Security. It is a massive operation, and it is incredibly important to our country.
And I think he will be a terrific leader for it. He not only loves our country, but he is passionate about security.
served in this body for 3 years. He has spent a lot of time on the issues of national security. He has done a lot of research in that area.
Homeland Security, and now he will be the one to actually implement those same bills.
Nation. He is actually the second Senator ever to serve in this body that is a member of the Cherokee Nation, but there has not been a Cherokee that has actually been in the Senate for more than two decades.
overwhelming support for him and for what he has done and his awareness of the Tribal issues, as well as just national issues and family issues.
and his wife Christie—the four of us—sitting down for a dinner in a quiet place in a booth in the middle of a restaurant, just to talk, because Markwayne was thinking about saying, “I am done with all of this chaos that is in Congress,” and he was actually praying through what to do next.
visited, prayed together, and he determined: I am going to stay at it because there is more work to be done.
And I am glad he did.
that he is going to walk into on day one, because when he walks in tomorrow morning into a new office, into a new role, and being sworn in, there will not be funding for the people around him. The staff that will be there, working alongside him, won't have been paid for more than a month.
And this is not an anomaly for them. As of this week, half of the fiscal year, Homeland Security employees have not been paid—half of the fiscal year. They faced 43 days without any paycheck, and they are at 37 days now. Half of the year, they have not been paid. As of this week, it will be six paychecks that they have either lost entirely or partially.
This body has the responsibility to solve this problem. And as Markwayne steps in to be able to lead so capably in Homeland Security, it is the responsibility of this body to be able to make sure that Homeland Security actually has the funding that it needs to be able to protect the Nation.
So my expectation is twofold tonight: One is that we will confirm my friend Markwayne Mullin, and he will be the next Secretary. And the other one is that soon we will finish this argument, and we will resolve our differences. And so the fine folks that work at Homeland Security, in all areas, whether it be Coast Guard, Secret Service, whether it be FEMA, whether it be TSA—yes, even ICE and Customs and Border Protection—wherever they may be, that their families can also reap the benefit of their service by actually getting a paycheck—what a novel idea.
Let's finish the task tonight.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the confirmation vote for Senator Markwayne Mullin to be the Secretary of Homeland Security right now.