Lisa Murkowski

Three Republican senators broke with their party on Thursday in a failed attempt to prevent Bill Pulte, the federal housing finance director, from acting as national intelligence chief.

Senators Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted to support a Democratic measure that would have blocked any spymaster from simultaneously leading another agency. President Donald Trump named Pulte acting national intelligence director on Tuesday.

The vote, one of many in the Senate’s 18-hour budgetary session, fell 11 “yays” short of the required threshold for passage.

Each of the three Republicans were noncommittal with Pulte’s assignment following Trump’s announcement. Their Thursday votes appeared to confirm their suspicions of his qualifications.

Cassidy, who the president helped oust through a recent primary challenge, said during CNBC’s CEO summit on Tuesday that Pulte was likely incompetent for intelligence director. The housing official oversees lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and has no national security experience.

“As one person said, he has no military background, no intelligence background,” Cassidy remarked, recalling a conversation with his colleague. “He’s going to already keep his other job. And he’s not even sure he has a security clearance.”

The National News Desk requested comment from Pulte but hasn’t received a response. Trump wrote in his Truth Social announcement that the official has “deep experience managing the most sensitive matters,” which he referred to as the “safety and soundness of the Markets.”

Senator Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat, took issue with Pulte’s tenure as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Pulte has targeted the president’s political opponents through dubious criminal referrals, accusing them of engaging in mortgage fraud.

Warner tried to block Pulte’s assignment as spymaster through an amendment to the Senate GOP’s immigration budget bill. Murkowski, who voted against the ICE funding, foreshadowed her support for the Virginian’s measure in talks with reporters earlier this week.

“I’m not familiar that there is anything in his background that would qualify [him] as one who would be the head of our national intelligence,” she said, according to The Hill. “I know what he has been doing in the housing sector. I’m not so familiar with why the president would have selected him.”

Collins spoke similarly about Pulte’s eligibility.

“As one of the authors of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which created the position of DNI, I obviously care a great deal about having a qualified individual in that position,” she told a Punchbowl News reporter.