Durbin Statement On Announcement That Secretary Noem Will Testify Before The Senate Judiciary Committee On March 3

Durbin Statement On Announcement That Secretary Noem Will Testify Before The Senate Judiciary Committee On March 3

SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the announcement that U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem will finally testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3:

"Secretary Noem refused to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year and now tells us that she will be available in five weeks-should she still be DHS Secretary at that time.

"With all of the violence and deaths involving DHS, the Secretary is apparently in no hurry to account for her mismanagement of this national crisis. And she expects us to rubber stamp her record-breaking budget in the meantime."

Durbin has repeatedly called on Secretary Noem to testify in front of the Committee and urged Chairman Grassley to consider issuing a subpoena if she refused to appear. Durbin first called on Secretary Noem to testify last June, citing "…the Department of Homeland Security's escalating use of alarming immigration enforcement practices." During the Biden Administration, then-Chair Durbin held a DHS oversight hearing months into then-Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas' tenure.

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