WASHINGTON _ On a 54-41 vote, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Chad Wolf as undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans. Wolf is now clear to take over the mantle as head of the entire agency from Kevin McAleenan, who resigned as acting DHS secretary more than a month ago.
Wolf was nominated to the undersecretary position in February by President Donald Trump but was never confirmed. He has been performing the undersecretary responsibilities in an acting capacity. His confirmation clears a logistical hurdle to head the agency.
Wolf would be the fifth person to serve as secretary since Trump took office and would face similar challenges as his predecessors: the need to balance the White House's highly politicized agenda with the policy goals and instincts of career employees. He also would be responsible for stabilizing an agency that has seen drastic turnover and low morale in the current administration.
Nearly a month after McAleenan resigned on Oct. 11, Trump confirmed he had picked Wolf to head the agency.
"He is right now acting and we'll see what happens," Trump told reporters Nov. 1. "We have great people in there."
Immigration hard-liners had favored the much more aggressive Ken Cuccinelli, who for the past five months has served as acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Cuccinelli has been a familiar face on television news shows and an avid tweeter known for his controversial statements that support Trump's restrictive immigration policies. However, Cuccinelli did not fulfill legal requisites for filling the role under the Federal Vacancies Act.
Wolf, with his confirmation as undersecretary, now satisfies those requirements.
"At least legally, the (White House) would be on far firmer footing with Wolf _ whose tenure in senior DHS positions makes him eligible to be Acting Secretary," Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said on Twitter.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., started clearing the path for Wolf's ascent a week after Trump publicly confirmed Wolf as his latest pick for the position. McConnell filed a cloture motion to end debate on his nomination for the undersecretary late Tuesday afternoon. That motion was approved, 54-40.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who earlier this year put a hold on Wolf's nomination, and other Democrats remain opposed to advancing his undersecretary appointment _ in part because it would serve as a short cut to the role of acting DHS secretary.
"I stand here opposed not only to Mr. Wolf's nomination, but also to the way in which this administration is circumventing the constitutional requirement of advice and consent to make Mr. Wolf the head of the third-largest department in the federal government," Rosen said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
"By the president's own admission, Mr. Wolf is slated to serve indefinitely as acting secretary of Homeland Security. Thus, our votes tonight and tomorrow are effectively to confirm Chad Wolf to be acting secretary of the entire Department of Homeland Security, despite limited vetting, no committee vote, no confirmation hearing for this position."
Rosen also added her concern that Wolf had served under former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who oversaw the policy that resulted in family separations. Rosen suggested that Wolf had misled the Senate in his confirmation hearing in June about his involvement in that policy.
"Chad Wolf played a leading role in developing, suggesting and implementing this inhumane policy," she said, referring to emails obtained by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and reported by NBC News, that showed Wolf was an architect of a list of recommendations to curb migration that included family separation in 2017.
According to DHS calendars obtained through public records request by the nonpartisan ethics watchdog American Oversight, Wolf had also attended meetings and phone calls on the issue in March 2018, even though he told the Senate he had first learned of the issue in April of that year.
Republican senators generally have supported Wolf's nomination.
"Dedicated Americans serving at DHS in acting positions are doings admirable jobs under often-times difficult circumstances," said Sen. Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
"I trust that Chad Wolf would do the same if he asked to step aside from his role as undersecretary and serve as acting secretary upon Kevin McAleenan's departure. But I fully expect _ and I call upon the president _ to nominate a permanent secretary for the Department of Homeland Secretary. When he does, my committee will consider the nominee expeditiously."
Wolf started his career at the DHS in 2002, after 9/11, serving as an assistant administrator of the Transport Security Administration. For many years in between, he also worked as a lobbyist on immigration legislation for companies that favored increases in visas for tech workers, or that wanted to sell their technologies to government agencies. His experience as a lobbyist for employment-based visas has been a sore point for immigration restrictionists and certain labor groups.
DHS officials have a mixed view of Wolf. After Trump named him as his pick, McAleenan released a statement praising Wolf, saying that his experience "in multiple roles at DHS will be invaluable" when it comes to tackling agency challenges.
A former Trump administration official appeared doubtful about Wolf's ability to advocate the interests of the DHS workforce to Congress and the public. While Wolf has substantial career experience, McAleenan's departure has further demoralized career DHS employees, the former official told CQ Roll Call.
"I can't express enough how many of my former colleagues were working very hard and affect outcomes on behalf of McAleenan," the former official said. "Many ... have been saddened by his departure and regards him as a true leader in this space."
