Three GOP senators vote to bar Pulte from serving as temporary director of national intelligence

Three Republican senators — Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — voted for a Democratic amendment Thursday to bar Bill Pulte from serving as temporary director of national intelligence (DNI) while he also serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The three GOP senators voted for an amendment to the budget reconciliation package sponsored by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

It would have prohibited any Senate-confirmed head of another federal agency or department from performing the role of DNI in an acting capacity.

The amendment failed on a vote of 49 to 49.

All three Republicans had questioned Pulte’s credentials to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies.

“The best I can tell you is he’s not qualified but I don’t know anything about him other than that,” Cassidy told The Hill earlier this week.

Collins, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned whether Pulte, the heir to the founders of one of the nation’s biggest homebuilding companies, Pulte Homes, even has a security clearance.

“I do not know Mr. Pulte at........

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