Before last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Rep. Bennie Thompson hadn’t spoken to each other in at least five months, underscoring the deep tensions between the pair. | AP Photo/ Evan Vucci Legal Nielsen to testify before House panel after subpoena threat

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has agreed to testify before a key House panel after weeks of contentious negotiations with Democrats.

Nielsen will appear before the House Homeland Security Committee on March 6, the panel’s chairman confirmed to POLITICO on Monday. The agreement comes after Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the committee, threatened last week to issue a subpoena to compel Nielsen to testify. Democrats said Nielsen was refusing to testify in front of the panel this month.


“We are giving the Secretary ample time to prepare for this appearance,” Thompson said in a statement to POLITICO. “She should be ready to defend the Administration’s border security actions and its plans to improve its border security agenda going forward. As Chairman of the Committee, I remain committed to the charge that securing the country should be based on intelligence and facts, and not pursuant to a campaign agenda.”

Thompson has said he wants to question Nielsen about the president’s push for a border wall, in addition to her comments last year about the administration's controversial family-separation policy. Before last week, Nielsen and Thompson hadn’t spoken to each other in at least five months, underscoring the deep tensions between the pair.

A spokesman for Nielsen said last week that the homeland security secretary proposed alternative dates to appear before the committee, but a Thompson aide said at least one of those dates fell during a congressional recess, fueling allegations that Nielsen was trying to sidestep the House panel.

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A Nielsen spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While other cabinet officials are still resisting providing congressional testimony, Republicans applauded the successful outcome of negotiations between Thompson and Nielsen.

“Chairman Thompson’s decision to cooperate with Secretary Nielsen to find a time for her to testify was the right one and is consistent with the committee’s constitutional mandate to conduct oversight over DHS,” Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican on the panel, said in a statement. “I look forward to hearing from Secretary Nielsen about the administration’s plans for border security early next month.”

