During Tuesday's Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned DHS Sec. Kristi Noem about spending.
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00:00It was a dereliction of their work.
00:03Let me go to
00:05some of the expenditures that your department is making.
00:08$200 million for an ad campaign
00:11fawning over President Trump's supposed accomplishments.
00:15$21 million between January and April for transporting
00:18around 400 immigrants to Guantanamo Bay.
00:21About half of them were flown back to the United States.
00:24$6 million to El Salvador to imprison
00:27300 individuals in a prison known for grave human rights violations.
00:32And many more, including $1,000 to immigrants wishing to self-deport.
00:39I understand one of the planes left within the last 24 hours.
00:43None of these expenditures are in your present budget.
00:48Aren't you going to run out of money before the end of this fiscal year?
00:52The continuing resolution doesn't cover any of them.
00:54No, all the dollars being spent are being utilized as authorized
00:59and appropriately for the situation.
01:01None of them have been authorized, though,
01:03under the continuing resolution or any other way that we normally authorize money.
01:09You're just spending recklessly, and it would seem wastefully,
01:14without authorization. That's against the law.
01:16Well, Senator, I completely disagree with you.
01:18I'm doing the job that the Secretary of Homeland Security is supposed to be doing,
01:21the one that the last Secretary refused to do,
01:23that endangered the future of our country.
01:25You may think you're doing the job, but you operate under authorization that this committee provides.
01:31You are acting in a way you think you're doing your job, but you also have a responsibility to follow the law.
01:40The American people overwhelmingly in the last election said we want a secure border.
01:45We want to make sure that no longer are the scales of justice tipped in favor of criminals.
01:50They did not tell you to act outside your legal authority and spend money that is not in your budget.
01:53All money is being spent according to how it is authorized appropriately.
01:57Let me ask you about the money that is being used to supposedly repatriate.