House panel to take up Mayorkas impeachment as border talks face conservative backlash

The House Homeland Security Committee is taking a crucial step toward impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week, marking up articles of impeachment that charge the embattled Cabinet chief with high crimes and misdemeanors.

The vote in committee comes as a bipartisan group of senators is putting the finishing touches on a long-awaited border security package, which faces fierce opposition from conservatives in both chambers — as well as former President Trump.

The split-screen is putting a spotlight on the situation on the southern border, which has emerged as a salient issue in the 2024 presidential election and a hot-button debate on Capitol Hill.

The House this week may also consider a bipartisan, bicameral tax deal, which top lawmakers in the House and Senate unveiled earlier this month. The legislation, however, is facing resistance from conservative and moderate Republicans in the lower chamber, setting up another tough stretch for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

House panel marks up Mayorkas impeachment resolution

The House Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to mark up articles of impeachment against Mayorkas on Tuesday at 10 a.m., teeing up a vote in the full chamber on booting the controversial secretary.

The impeachment resolution — which includes two articles — accuses Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” based on allegations the secretary violated immigration laws through Biden immigration policies. It also charges Mayorkas with “breach of trust,” with accusations that he did not carry out his responsibilities, misled Congress and obstructed its investigation.

“These articles lay out a clear, compelling, and irrefutable case for Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement.

“Congress has a duty to see that the executive branch implements and enforces the laws we have passed. Yet Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly refused to do so. His lawless behavior was exactly what the Framers gave us the impeachment power to remedy,” he added.

The Department of Homeland Security in a memo said the impeachment resolution markup “is just more of the same political games” from Republicans on the panel.

“They don’t want to fix the problem; they want to campaign on it. That’s why they have undermined efforts to achieve bipartisan solutions and ignored the facts, legal scholars and experts, and even the Constitution itself in their quest to baselessly impeach Secretary Mayorkas,” the memo adds.

The impeachment resolution will head to the House floor for a vote if it advances through the Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. Johnson has vowed to hold a final vote on the legislation “as soon as possible.”

Senate closes in on border deal amid GOP opposition

The Senate this week is awaiting the text of the highly anticipated border security deal, which could hit the floor in the coming days — even as the impending agreement faces sharp criticism from Trump and conservatives on both sides of the Capitol.

Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), the lead Democratic negotiator, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday “we do have a bipartisan deal” and that “we’re finishing up the text right now.” The bill, Murphy said, could be ready to hit the Senate floor as soon as this week.

Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), the lead GOP negotiator, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that negotiators are “working on the final aspects” of the agreement, but noted the topic of humanitarian parole “is still an issue for us.”

The rosy outlook comes as conservatives in both chambers — and the GOP presidential front-runner — are voicing opposition to the deal even before the specifics have been revealed.

In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump wrote “A BAD BORDER DEAL IS FAR WORSE THAN NO BORDER DEAL!” The former president earlier this month wrote “I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Fox News last week, “We don’t need a border bill.”

Democrats have accused Trump and conservatives of pushing against the border bill because they want to deny President Biden a legislative win in an election year, particularly since immigration and the border are key issues among voters.

Senate Republicans backing the border deal, nonetheless, are evoking confidence there will be enough GOP support in the chamber to get the deal over the finish line. Lankford told CBS he does not have a vote count for the agreement because lawmakers first need a chance to read the text, but added, “I do feel very positive about it, because even the initial feedback has been good.”

Even if the border bill clears the Senate, its chances of passing the House — or even getting a vote on the floor — are bleak.

Speaker Johnson threw another wave of cold water at the negotiations Friday, telling colleagues in a letter: “If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway.”

Murphy reviewed some specifics of the border deal Sunday. He told CNN the bill will allow the president to temporarily shut down the border between ports of entry when crossings hit “catastrophically high levels;” it will reform the asylum system and, in effect, decrease the time it takes for an individual to get their asylum claim heard; and it would help individuals receive work permits at a faster rate.

He underscored the high-stakes nature of the negotiations, noting they are key to unlocking aid for Ukraine.

“The consequence of failure here is not just that we keep immigration as an open issue available for Donald Trump to exploit in the next election. It is also that Ukraine loses this war and that Russia marches its army to the edge of Europe,” Murphy said on CNN. “That would be catastrophic for the United States and for the whole world. So the stakes here are high. The consequences of failure are enormous.”

Potential House vote on tax deal

The House this week may vote on the bipartisan, bicameral tax deal that top lawmakers unveiled earlier this month, which is facing opposition from both ends of the chamber’s GOP conference.

The package — dubbed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act — would expand the child tax credit by increasing the maximum credit per child from $1,600 to $2,000 until the end of 2025 while also restoring business deductions for research development costs, interest payments and capital investments.

It would also increase the low-income housing tax credit, raise the amount in capital expenditures that small businesses can immediately write off from $1 million to $1.29 million, and it would hike up the reporting threshold for subcontractor work from $600 to $1,000.

The legislation is listed on the weekly schedule from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office as “Legislation that may be considered.” The uncertainty comes as both moderate and conservative Republicans in the House are expressing opposition to the deal.

Moderates from wealthier states, for starters, have criticized the deal for not increasing the state and local tax (SALT) credit. One Republican lawmaker with knowledge of the situation told The Hill in a text message last week: “There is real anger about the process.”

“Jason Smith ignored the Long Island members then insulted them when asked about SALT in an interview,” the lawmaker added, referring to the Missouri Republican lawmaker who serves as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. “He lacks style and substance.”

Some conservatives, on the other hand, are frustrated that the bill does not go far enough.

“I’m sick of these gutless cowards in Washington. You know what we’re gonna put on the floor next week?” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told Fox radio host Jimmy Failla last week. “A tax cut bill for corporations, because Republicans are whores for endless wars and corporations. That’s it. That’s what they stand for.”

The opposition from both ends of the party means leadership will likely bring the bill to the floor under suspension of the rules, a fast-track process that avoids having to first pass a rule — which conservatives and moderates could oppose, ultimately blocking the legislation from coming to the floor.

Moving the bill under suspension, however, could further frustrate conservatives, who have spoken out against using the procedural gambit for large pieces of legislation.

The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the legislation in a bipartisan 40-3 vote earlier this month.