House Republicans have failed to pass the Homeland Security Sec. to accuse. Alejandro Mayorkas for his mishandling of the crisis at the southern border in a nail-biting vote that came down to the last minute.
The 214-216 vote represents the second major legislative failure of the day for Republicans, who remain deeply divided in the House and Senate.
Mayorkas' impeachment was expected to mark a rare agreement for House Republicans, who are deeply divided on other issues. GOP leaders were stunned by the results.
“I really haven’t had time to think about it,” Supervisors Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters when asked for his reaction to the failed vote. Comer is leading the impeachment trial against Biden.
Just minutes later, Speaker Mike Johnson's $17.6 billion Israel aid bill failed spectacularly by a vote of 250 to 218, another humiliating defeat for Republicans in 15 minutes.
A series of boos and chants erupted across the House floor as lawmakers waited for minutes for the only outstanding vote that could break the tie – Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who is undergoing cancer treatment.
Republicans had brought back Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., who was recovering from a car accident but entered the House in full chest and neck brace to vote “yes” on the unsuccessful impeachment trial.
Democrats then wheeled in Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, in a wheelchair at the last minute — where he delivered the death knell to Mayorka's impeachment efforts. The vote at the time was 215 to 215, a failure.
Wearing what appeared to be a hospital gown instead of his pants, Green told reporters that he had just undergone surgery.
The vote stalled for several minutes before GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore changed his initial “yes” on impeachment to “no,” bringing the count to 216, allowing him to bring up the measure again in the future could bring.
Johnson spokesman Raj Shah said Republicans “fully intend to bring up the articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas again as soon as we have the votes to pass them.”
“It's just a delay,” Department of Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., said of the vote, emphasizing that it would come up again when Scalise was back in Washington.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have not passed a resolution to amend the Homeland Security Sec. to accuse. Alejandro Mayorkas in Congress is the third major legislative failure of the day
The Republicans in the Senate had previously quickly scrapped the bipartisan border security agreement that they had negotiated for months and only published two days ago.
The embarrassing blow to Speaker Mike Johnson now sends House Republicans back to the drawing board. It is unlikely that Congress will make any changes to border policy before the next presidency.
Ousted Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., rejoiced after the vote was final. 'Do you already miss me?' he wrote on X.
The Department of Homeland Security and Democrats condemned the Republican Party-led action as a “political ploy” aimed at a man “doing his best in extreme circumstances.”
Early Tuesday, the White House accused Homeland Chairman Green of being anti-Semitic for calling Cuban Jew Alejandro Mayorkas a “reptile” who doesn't have the guts to resign.
The Republican impeachment process was hanging by a thread as Speaker Mike Johnson could only afford to lose by a total of three votes. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., sidelined for weeks by a serious car accident, was seen on the House floor wearing a neck brace.
Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., Tom McClintock, R-Calif. and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., all opposed impeaching Mayorkas, claiming it was unconstitutional and citing problems with the process.
Speaker Mike Johnson said he would hold another vote on the Israel bill next week — despite efforts to pass the Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is probably dead
Mayorkas' impeachment comes amid rampant unrest among House Republicans, who cannot agree on spending and the $118 billion supplemental funding deal. Last year they even voted to remove their current spokesman, Kevin McCarthy.
According to official data from the Department of Homeland Security, there were more than 302,000 encounters with migrants at the southern border in December – an all-time record.
And while Republicans led the charge against the Senate's bipartisan border and national security deal, Democrats rejected Israel aid and instead pushed for the Senate's deal.
Republicans were the ones demanding legislation to fund Ukraine, and Israel had to offer them border provisions. But as soon as Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced that the deal was dead, Senate Republicans again floated the idea of an aid package for Ukraine and Israel without border laws.
The absurd development came less than an hour after President Joe Biden blamed Donald Trump for leading an effort to repeal the law to improve his chances in the 2024 election.
The bill — including $20 billion for border measures — would require the border to be closed if there are 5,000 encounters over the course of a week or 8,500 migrants in a single day.
But many Republicans felt that didn't go far enough and are calling for the immediate reinstatement of the pandemic-era Title 42, the Remain in Mexico policy and the construction of a border wall.
“They sent us a supplemental funding proposal that includes immigration reform but no real border security reform,” spokesman Mike Johnson complained of the deal.