One of the fiercest critics of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem during her Senate testimony on Tuesday was a fellow Republican: Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Not only did he call her leadership of the department a "disaster," he threatened to hold up the work of the Senate unless she responds to his outstanding queries about an immigration crackdown in Charlotte last fall, reports Axios. At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Tillis also sharply criticized Noem over delayed FEMA funding and slow agency responses tied to hurricane recovery in his state, and he renewed his calls for her resignation.
"If I don't get an answer that you've had a month to respond to, and the remaining ones … as of today, I'll be informing leadership that I'm putting a hold on any en bloc nominations until I get a response, and in two weeks, if I don't get a response, I'm going to deny quorum and markup in as many committees as I can until I get a response," Tillis said. If he follows through with the rare move, Tillis—who is not running for reelection—could essentially "hijack much of the Senate's standard operating procedure," per Politico. "En bloc" refers to the practice of voting on administration nominees as a group.
Tillis also entered into the record a letter from the Office of the Inspector General alleging Noem misled or obstructed probes in 10 separate matters. "That is stonewalling," he said. "That's a failure of leadership." Noem did not immediately address that charge during the hearing.
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