Today Senator Rand Paul (who labels himself “Dr. Paul” on his committee nameplate) announced that he would oppose the nomination of Senator Mullin for DHS Secretary. In the past, this would have killed the nomination. The Chair would simply never hold a vote on the nominee.
Nowadays, though, Senate committee chairs have much less power. Senator Mullin will get a vote in committee and will advance to the floor if he gets one vote from a Democrat (Senator Fetterman). Perhaps this is a better system. I’m not so sure.