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 while he also serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

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

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

The amendment failed on a vote of 49-49.

All three Republicans have 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 all. I don’t know whether he has any intelligence or military background. I don’t even know whether he has a security clearance,” she said Tuesday, appearing surprised by President Trump’s selection of Pulte to serve as his principal adviser on national security matters.

Murkowski told The Hill this week she wasn’t aware of anything in Pulte’s background that would qualify him to preside over the CIA, the National Security Agency and other critical intelligence agencies. “I know what he has been doing in the housing sector; I’m not so familiar with why the president would have selected him,” she said.

Senate Democrats are incensed by Trump’s decision to put Pulte in charge of the nation’s intelligence agencies after he used his role as the FHFA director to dig up mortgage information to support criminal allegations against Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook — the first Black woman appointed to the central bank’s board of governors — and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).

Cook has been embroiled in a legal battle with Trump, who attempted to fire her from the Fed. James filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his children and the Trump Organization on fraud allegations.

Democrats are threatening to block an extension of enhanced surveillance authority under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in protest of Pulte serving as director of national intelligence even temporarily.

Warner called Pulte’s appointment “insulting” to the intelligence agencies.

“The president is saying, ‘Oh don’t worry, this guy can do both the mortgage job, the housing job and the intel job.’ That’s insane,” Warner said. 

Other Republicans have suggested they would vote against Pulte if Trump nominates him to serve as director of national intelligence for a longer term.

“Very few Senate-confirmable positions come with statutory eligibility requirements. There are good reasons why the Director of National Intelligence is one of them. Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute, and no nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote,” former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said in a statement Wednesday.