March 20 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate is preparing for a weekend of voting on key legislation, including a funding plan to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown on Friday.
Lawmakers will also hold a vote on Saturday on the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to lead the DHS. Mullin passed the first hurdle toward his confirmation on Thursday.
Before a decision on Mullin’s nomination is finalized, the Senate will focus on funding the department. It has been shut down for 35 days.
The ongoing shutdown and slate of Republican priorities sparked Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to potentially delay the Senate’s scheduled two week recess that is set to begin in 10 days.
Thune told POLITICO on Thursday that the Senate will not recess without passing a DHS funding bill.
“We’ll find out very quickly, I think, if the Dems want to make a deal,” Thune said. “I think there’s deal space there. We just got to find out how serious the Democrats are.”
The Senate will vote on an amendment to its elections bill the SAVE Act on Saturday. The amendment, proposed by President Donald Trump, seeks to ban transgender women from women’s sports.
The version of the bill that passed the U.S. House did not include this amendment. It will need 60 votes to pass and there are 53 Republicans in the Senate.
Mullin’s nomination to replace Kristi Noem as the head of the DHS faces a vote from the full Senate on Sunday.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee advanced Mullin’s nomination on Thursday in an 8-7 vote. Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote against the nomination, citing Mullin’s temper and unrepentant attitude toward comments he has made about the chairman.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was the only Democrat to vote in favor of Mullin’s confirmation.