U.S. Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Tuesday voted against two more cabinet nominations made by President Joe Biden.
Alabama’s senators on the day opposed the confirmations of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Buttigieg — the former presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana — was confirmed by the body in an 86-13 vote.
Meanwhile, Mayorkas’ confirmation came by the narrowest margin of Biden’s presidency thus far: 56-43.
In a statement, Tuberville said, “Alejandro Mayorkas’ testimony and public statements have made clear that he will not enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress, and he will attempt to undo the progress made by the Trump Administration in building the wall to secure our southwest border.”
“Making law by unilateral action instead of working with Congress seems to be an unfortunate theme of the Biden Administration so far, and Mayorkas already has a record of governing by executive action given his role in creating and implementing former President Obama’s problematic DACA program,” he concluded. “If President Biden is serious about uniting the country, he should choose officials who do not have a history of going around Congress to govern.”
This comes after Shelby and Tuberville recently voted against Biden’s nominees to lead the Department of State and Department of the Treasury. The Yellowhammer State senators voted for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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