WASHINGTON: The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee favorably reported President Biden’s nominees for national cyber director and CISA director to the full Senate for a floor vote.

Chris Inglis, a former NSA deputy director and Air Force veteran, is the presumptive first national cyber director, charged with leading US domestic cybersecurity strategy, policy, and budgets. Jen Easterly — who previously worked at NSA and CYBERCOM and is an Army veteran — has been tapped to lead CISA, which heads DHS’s work on domestic cybersecurity.

Ahead of the committee voice vote, Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan described Inglis and Easterly as “extraordinarily qualified nominees.” Hassan led the meeting because Sen. Gary Peters, the committee chairman, returned home after his mother passed away.

The voice vote comes a week after the full confirmation hearing on the nominees, who enjoy broad bipartisan support.

However, after the vote, Sen. Rick Scott said he is placing a hold on all DHS nominees, including Easterly, until President Biden visits the US southern border. A hold is a parliamentary procedure that stops a floor vote. Scott attached a demand to the hold.

“I clearly support Jen Easterly to be the director of CISA. She’s got the right background to do the job. It has no reflection on her nomination, but I am going to hold all nominations, including hers, until the president of the United States visits the border. I think the president needs to visit the border and tell us how he’s going to address the crisis.”

To which Sen. Tom Carper replied, “For the record, I would just note that President Biden has probably been to the US-Mexican border more than anybody that serves on this committee. My guess is he’ll probably go again. …We can welcome people at our borders. If that’s all we do, and we don’t address the root causes of why they’re coming, they’ll be coming for another 10, 20, 30 years. And Joe Biden is all about root causes. That’s where we need to focus our time and energy.”

Scott’s move raises questions about when a floor vote for Easterly will occur. Breaking Defense reached out to Scott’s office for comment.

Scott’s office provided a statement by the senator which reads, in part, “Until Biden decides to care about the safety of the American people and Border Patrol agents on the frontlines, and actually gets down to the border to see his crisis firsthand, I will do everything in my power to hold Biden’s DHS nominees on the Senate floor. …If Biden refuses to help those risking their lives every day to keep us safe, and put an end to a humanitarian crisis he has recklessly created, I can’t allow his nominees to move forward in an expedited fashion. His crisis can no longer be ignored.”

Breaking Defense reached out to the Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rob Portman and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.