(The Center Square) – U.S. Senators grilled Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, over alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars on Tuesday.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned Noem over her agency’s approval processes for multimillion dollar contracts. He specifically brought up an investigation over a $220 million DHS advertising campaign. A review of documents from ProPublica appeared to find that a firm closely linked to Noem was awarded taxpayer dollars for the campaign.
Noem said she approves all DHS contracts that exceed $5 million. She said this policy has saved more than $13.2 billion as the agency negotiates lower price contracts and cancels other contracts.
Noem defended the ad campaign as “extremely effective” and said President Trump tasked her with putting out the materials. She also denied that the ad campaign funds were given to an agency that was closely linked to the secretary.
“It puts the president in a terribly awkward spot,” Kennedy said. “I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth, it’s just hard for me to believe.”
Kennedy said Safe America Media, the company awarded an ad contract from DHS, was formed 11 days before Noem picked it to run the ad campaign. Safe America Media, reportedly funneled large portions of its ad contract to Strategy Group, an organization run by Ben Yoho, husband to DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. McLaughlin resigned from DHS on Feb. 17.
“Look, we all have friends who are qualified,” Kennedy said. “It troubles me a fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money when we’re scratching for every penny and we’re fighting over rescission packages, I just can’t agree with Madam Secretary.”
Noem denied she picked the specific contractors who were awarded funds in the ad campaign process.
The Department of Homeland Security has been left without funds by Congress since Feb. 14. The Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency are among the few organizations without full funding until Congress reaches an agreement.
TSA and FEMA employees have already started to receive partial paychecks or will receive them starting this week.
Democrats on the committee also accused Noem of misusing taxpayer dollars in the purchase of luxury jets and planes for the department’s purposes. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., pointed out two jets that were purchased by DHS for $172 million. Noem reportedly has plans to purchase a third jet for $70 million.
Noem said the purchase of jets in the department has saved taxpayer dollars and helped to speed up deportation processes. She said the department spent $1.42 billion on deportation flights in 2025.
She said luxury jets are being refurbished to comply with the law and allow greater savings for taxpayers. Congress provides funding for DHS to purchase jets at their discretion. Recently, Congress appropriated $140 million to DHS specifically for the purchase of jets.
“We are saving the taxpayer 40% by purchasing our own aircraft and operating them rather than being susceptible to the contracts that they have today,” Noem said.
Other senators pointed out fraud schemes happening across the country. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called for further extensive investigation into Minnesota fraud, which she said totaled up to $18 billion.
“These programs are there to care for individuals and give services to some of our most vulnerable in society,” Noem said. “[Minnesota leaders] have stolen that from them, allowed individuals to abuse those programs and have done it to the detriment of not just their families there, but also the businesses there and the educational entities and even their credibility to speak.”
