Mayorkas impeachment, Israel aid bill votes fail in stunner for Johnson: Highlights
House Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. That was followed by a vote on a stand-alone Israel aid bill that President Biden has threatened to veto — another bill that went down in defeat.
Israel aid had been part of Biden’s supplemental funding request — along with border reforms, aid for Ukraine and other foreign policy priorities — but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over the weekend announced he would bring it up separately.
Amid that, the bipartisan border deal is in peril, as a growing number of GOP senators come out in opposition, with even Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noting it has no chance of passing.
Read below for a recap of the day’s events in Congress.
The House on Tuesday rejected a bill to provide $17.6 billion in aid for Israel, sinking Congress’s latest effort to help its embattled Middle Eastern ally and throwing the fate of future foreign aid into question.
The tally was 250-180 — short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure — with critics in both parties joining forces to quash it.
The stunning vote marked a defeat for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has opposed Democratic efforts to combine new Israel funding with other security provisions, including aid for Ukraine, and sought to pressure Democrats into swallowing the Israel piece as a stand-alone bill.
— Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell
A House GOP effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas failed in an embarrassing fashion Tuesday as three Republicans joined Democrats in voting against what would have been the second-ever impeachment of a Cabinet official.
The 214-216 vote is a stunning loss for a GOP that has faced continual pressure from its right flank to impeach a Biden official, even as the party has waffled over which one to focus on.
The failure came about because of the surprise appearance in the chamber of Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who showed up unexpected to vote against the bill.
Republicans entered the vote with two expected “no” votes, but then a third House GOP lawmaker, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), also voted against impeachment.
A fourth Republican, Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), the vice chair of the GOP conference, then flipped his vote to “no” seconds before the vote closed, a procedural move that allows the conference to bring the legislation back to the floor at a later date.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the lead negotiators on the bipartisan border bill, railed against the GOP opposition, arguing Republicans “chose Trump” instead.
“I can’t believe this is happening. We were all here, this wasn’t a dream, this really happened,” Murphy said during a fiery floor speech Tuesday. “Republicans all stood up and said that they wanted a bipartisan bill to fix the border.”
“We delivered a bipartisan bill to fix the border with the Republican senator appointed by the Republican caucus to cut the deal,” he continued. “And within 24 hours before the ink was even dry, Republican senators decided they don’t want a bipartisan bill to fix the border. They want to pretend they never asked for a bipartisan border bill.”
Murphy contended the GOP party actually wants “chaos” because “that’s what Donald Trump says he wants.”
“What the hell just happened?” he added.
—Miranda Nazzaro
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday argued House Republicans are using the impeachment effort into Mayorkas as “consolation” for not producing credible evidence in their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
“We’re here because the madcap, wild goose chase to impeach Joe Biden has produced no wild geese,” Raskin said Tuesday during a floor speech.
“So the Trump-Putin-MAGA faction headed up by the distinguished gentlelady from Georgia [Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R)] has been given this worthless trinket of a consolation prize,” he continued.
“The opportunity to bring a slapstick impeachment drive against a Cabinet member of unimpeachable integrity who has obviously committeed no treason, no bribery, no high crimes, no misdemeanors, nothing indictable…” he said.
— Miranda Nazzaro
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) on Tuesday weighed in on the Senate’s border bill, calling it a “disastrous” piece of legislation.
“The American people were overwhelmingly opposed to this border bill, which did little to actually secure the border,” Noem wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “I’m glad the U.S. Senate listened to them and killed this disastrous legislation.”
Noem’s remarks come amid increasing speculation former President Trump could choose her for his running mate if he secures the GOP nomination. Trump earlier this week called the border security bill a “Death Wish” for the GOP on Monday.
— Miranda Nazzaro
The House has kicked off debate over whether to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“While I do not wish to be standing here presenting these articles, we have exhausted all other options,” Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said in opening debate.
“Our oath to the constitution now requires us to exercise this solemn duty. Secretary Mayorkas has explicitly refused to comply with the law. His refusal to obey the law has led to the death of our fellow citizens, and he no longer deserves to keep his job.”
Republicans accuse Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” claiming he violated immigration laws by failing to detain a sufficient number of migrants. Immigration law experts who have weighed the claim determined Mayorkas did not violate any laws.
They also accuse him of “breach of public trust.”
It’s a novel approach and one that has been criticized both by conservative legal scholars as well as Democrats.
“Republicans have failed at making a constitutionally viable case for impeachment. Neither of the impeachment charges are a ‘high crime and misdemeanor’ under Article II of the Constitution. Impeachment over mere policy disputes was deliberately rejected by the Framers, and those disputes are best settled in the court system,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the top Democrat on the committee.
“Republicans have misrepresented the law and Secretary Mayorkas’ record to justify this sham impeachment.”
— Rebecca Beitsch
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) reaffirmed his vote against the Mayorkas impeachment bill on Tuesday.
He is one of two GOP members who have stated they will vote against the measure, and other have avoided definitive answers.
“The border is terrible right now. It is his fault and it is President Biden’s fault. It is a disgrace,” he told reporters. “It is an open border. And the country is suffering as a result of that. And that’s why this is moving forward because of the frustration of the American people.”
“He is the worst cabinet official in my lifetime,” he continued. “And he shouldn’t she should just be ashamed of the job he’s doing, but it’s not an impeachable offense.”
Buck added that he has not received feedback, positive or negative, on his decision from GOP colleagues.
– Nick Robertson
Former Department of Homeland Security Secretaries Michael Chertoff, Jeh Johnson and Janet Napolitano, who served former Presidents Bush and Obama, asked Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter on Tuesday to “set aside this groundless impeachment effort and get back to solving America’s real problems.”
The three noted that while they differ in their opinions of White House policies, implemented by Mayorkas, “we collectively agree that policy differences are not Constitutionally permissible impeachment offenses. Rather, they are issues to be resolved via legislation or elections.”
They also note that Mayorkas’s impeachment imperils other responsbilities of his office, such as preventing terrorism.
Speaker Mike Johnson confirms that the Mayorkas impeachment vote will happen.
“We are,” he said when asked if it would go forward today.
— Nick Robertson
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that he has not endorsed the Senate’s border-Ukraine package, but more broadly supports bipartisan solutions to the country’s border challenges.
“I have not,” he told The Hill Tuesday morning. “I’ve endorsed the bipartisan effort to find common sense solutions to addressing all of the challenges that the American people confront, including at the border.
“The ‘my way or the highway’ approach adopted by extreme MAGA Republicans is just designed to allow chaos to continue and undermines the common sense solutions to meet the needs of the American people.”
By withholding his formal support for the Senate deal, Jeffries is the outlier among top Democratic leaders. President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have both endorsed the Senate deal, and they’re hoping it gets enacted to give Biden a needed legislative victory on a border issue that’s become a major liability as the president seeks a second term.
But Jeffries is also facing substantial pressure within his caucus from liberals — notably those in the Congressional Hispanic and Progressive caucuses — who are bashing the Senate agreement for going too far to restrict migrants on the southern border. Those groups make up a large chunk of the Democratic Caucus, and they want a more comprehensive approach to immigration reform that also includes a pathway to citizenship for those already in the country illegally.
The practical barriers facing the Senate proposal have also insulated Jeffries from having to make his position known. Senate Republicans are poised to block the bill with a filibuster on Wednesday. And if it does ever reach the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said the package is dead on arrival.
— Mike Lillis
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), pointing to what he called the mismanagement of a border security and Ukraine funding package, said Tuesday it’s time for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to step down as the Senate GOP leader.
Cruz was one of 10 Republican senators who voted against McConnell’s reelection as Senate minority leader after the 2022 election and he is a longtime critic of McConnell’s leadership.
While Cruz’s desire to replace McConnell as leader isn’t new, he has stepped up his criticism of the veteran Kentucky lawmaker in anticipation that the border security deal negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), whom McConnell tapped for the task, would fall flat with GOP senators.
Asked at a press conference whether it’s time for McConnell “to go,” Cruz replied: “I think it is.”
“Everyone here also supported to the leadership challenge to Mitch McConnell in November [of 2022,]” he said at a press conference with Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).
“I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans,” he said.
— Alexander Bolton
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus huddled Monday night with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the lead negotiators of the Senate border agreement, and made it clear they are furious with the final product, according to one lawmaker who attended.
“We discussed it, and clearly stated our displeasure of compromising the values when it comes to immigration,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), a former chair of the CHC.
President Biden has endorsed the Senate border deal, hoping to secure an election-year victory on an issue that ranks among his top vulnerabilities on the campaign trail. But Velázquez warned that, for Democrats, passing the legislation would be more of a liability than an asset.
“I worry about the implications that this will have among Hispanic voters, especially young voters,” she said. “They’re very active on this issue, and they are very disappointed, to say the least.”
The CHC has been up in arms throughout the lengthy Senate negotiations, not least because there were no members of the group active in the talks. Their exasperation has only grown since the Senate deal was unveiled Sunday night, with much of the criticism focused on policy changes making it harder for migrants to claim asylum.
CHC Chairwoman Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) warned Monday that the Senate deal would “gut” the asylum system at the expense of human rights. And Velázquez piled on, warning that, by codifying the policy changes into law, the Senate proposal would empower future administrations to put strict new limits on migrants fleeing dangerous conditions at home.
“This will be opening the door for a person like Donald Trump to become a dictator easier, because it will be in the law,” she said. “It’s just amazing that we would even go there.”
The liberal critics of the Senate deal might not have reason to worry. Senate Republicans are vowing to block the legislation when it hits the floor Wednesday evening. And House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he won’t bring it to the floor in any event.
— Mike Lillis
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) pinned the blame on the “poor process” of Congressional negotiations for sinking the long-sought border bill.
Cramer, in a statement published Tuesday, said the proposed bill “provides too many openings for bad behavior from an administration unconcerned with the threats” at the U.S. Southern border.
The North Dakota Republican said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) contributed “immense credibility” to the discussion, but the negotiations process tanked the bill in the end.
“He made great progress and was as open and transparent as he could be, but secretive negotiations and Congress’ all-or-nothing approach left little room for success,” Cramer wrote. “In the end, poor process failed us again.”
He called on Congress to be “the world’s most deliberative body,” instead of its “most secretive one.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) on Tuesday called the efforts to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a “political ploy,” and “sham.”
“If we were being honest with one another, we would not be bringing this impeachment resolution of Secretary Mayorkas forward. This is a sham, this is a joke, it has no basis within the Constitution, this is a political ploy,” McGovern said during a floor speech Tuesday.
McGovern’s speech followed that of Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), who called the impeachment attempt a “stunt” that would only “replace one left-wing official with another.”
McGovern thanked McClintock for “being honest,” noting “more honesty” is needed in Congress.
His comments follow his criticism of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of the leading voices behind the resolution, on Monday, when he called the Georgia Republican a “leader” of a “charade.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
Senate Republicans, under heavy pressure from former President Trump, will block a procedural motion to begin debate on a bipartisan border security deal this week, leaving funding for the war in Ukraine in limbo for the foreseeable future.
A failure to advance the border security deal this week would signal the legislation is unlikely to pass the Senate without major changes. And any revisions to asylum and border security reforms negotiated with the White House and Senate Democrats could scuttle the whole deal.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.), whose staff has briefed Republican senators and their offices on the details of the sweeping border security package, said Tuesday that a motion to end debate on proceeding to the bill won’t get much, if any, Republican support.
Asked Tuesday morning if any Senate Republicans will vote to proceed to the bill, Thune said it’s “unlikely” because members of his conference want more time to study the complicated package.
“I think it’s unlikely because I just think our members are still — they want more time to evaluate it,” he said when asked about the prospect of any GOP senators voting to proceed.
— Alex Bolton
In the narrow GOP majority, every vote on the Mayorkas impeachment will count.
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who had been absent recently as he recovered from a car accident, is expected to be back in Washington this week and for the Mayorkas vote.
Yet Republicans will not get any breathing room from Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who has been long absent for House votes as he campaigns for president in his long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination against President Biden. Phillips said Tuesday that he would vote against the impeachment articles in the evening.
— Emily Brooks
House Democrats are lining up in opposition to a Republican bill providing new military funding for Israel — but not without a lot of internal agonizing.
At an animated closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement on Tuesday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other top leaders told the Caucus that they’ll oppose the bill when it hits the floor later in the day.
“We are prepared to support any serious, bipartisan effort in connection with the special relationship between the United States and Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East,” Jeffries, along with Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), wrote to Democrats in a letter released shortly after the meeting.
“Unfortunately, the standalone legislation introduced by House Republicans over the weekend, at the eleventh hour without notice or consultation, is not being offered in good faith.”
That position aligns them with President Biden, who has vowed to veto the proposal if it gets as far as his desk. And an overwhelming majority of House Democrats appear ready to get on board in voting against the bill.
— Mike Lillis
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Tuesday said he would vote against the border deal, becoming the 22nd Senate Republican to do so.
“We must control the border to stop illegal immigration and address the fentanyl flowing into our country. Even the author of the bill now acknowledges that this legislation needs more analysis and acceptance by the American people. For this reason, I will vote no,” he said in a statement.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) did not mince words on her thoughts on the bipartisan Senate bill, affirming that she not would support the measure under any circumstances.
She said that there is no way she would even consider the bill, even if GOP senators make amendments to the measure that make it more palatable for conservative House Republicans.
“Have you been paying attention? The Senate bill is dead!” she said.
Greene also said that she believes there are enough votes in the House to pass the impeachment resolution against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but she was not confident.
Two House Republicans have already come out against the measure.
“My understanding is I think we have the votes, but we will certainly see,” she said. “We’ll have the debate on the floor later today, and hopefully we’ll pass impeachment.”
— Nick Robertson
A proposed deal on border security, announced after long and painstaking negotiations in the Senate, has stumbled out of the gate.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has declared the push “dead on arrival.” In the Senate — which is typically more open to bipartisan moderation than the House — at least 19 GOP senators have declared they will vote against the bill.
Even if the proposal were able to draw the 60 votes it needs to pass in the Senate — a scenario that relies on overwhelming support from Democrats— it is enormously difficult to see it passing the House. As of Monday evening, not a single Republican House member had publicly backed the proposal.
If the effort fails, it will be a setback both to Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), who was the main GOP negotiator, and to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Its downfall, however, would be another victory for former President Trump. Such an outcome would show that his hawkish positions on immigration can still carry the day and that his broader grip on the GOP remains strong.
Read the rest of The Memo, a reported column by Niall Stanage, here.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced Tuesday he would vote against the border deal.
“I commend Senator Lankford for the hard work he put in during months of negotiations, especially on asylum and parole reform, and he secured the best deal he could with an administration that tried to put up every roadblock imaginable. With that said, I have repeatedly said it would be a mistake to send this bill to the House without the support of a majority of Republican senators, and if it didn’t have a majority, I would not support a futile procedural exercise,” he said in a statement.
“After reviewing the bill text, there are provisions that are highly problematic, especially considering the fact that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas caused this border crisis and have refused to use existing laws already on the books to address it. It is hard to trust that the Biden Administration would even implement this bill in good faith. I will vote no.”
Tillis is the 21st Republican to declare opposition to the bill.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday that he would vote against a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, becoming the second Republican to buck the party and putting in jeopardy GOP plans.
In a 10-page memo McClintock offered criticism of Mayorkas but said his party had failed to identify an impeachable crime.
“Clearly the founders worried that the power of impeachment could be used to settle political disputes and so searched for limiting language to avoid such abuse,” McClintock wrote, writing his colleagues had failed to demonstrate any high crime or misdemeanor.
Assuming full attendance, Republicans can only lose three votes to pass the impeachment resolution. It is slated to hit the floor today.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (Wyo.), the third-ranking member of the Senate GOP leadership, says he will oppose the sweeping border security deal negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) over the past three months, striking a blow to Senate Republican unity.
“The proposed legislation does not meet most Americans’ standard of securing our border now. It doesn’t force the Biden administration to end its abuse of current law,” Barrasso said in a statement.
Barrasso is the second member of the elected Senate GOP leadership to state his opposition to the deal, which proponents say would raise the asylum standard for people entering the country and cut the number of illegal migrants paroled into the nation’s interior in half.
— Alexander Bolton
The bipartisan border bill is looking increasingly like it’s in trouble as Republicans call for more time to review the legislation and a growing number make clear they have no intention of allowing it to proceed in its current form.
Senate Republicans on Monday huddled to discuss the nascent bill and members almost universally called for more time to study the border component that was rolled out a day earlier by negotiators.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has laid out plans to hold the first procedural vote to move toward President Biden’s $118 billion emergency supplemental on Wednesday, but Republicans seem prepared to scuttle that plan.
According to one Senate source, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recommended to members that they vote against proceeding to the bill if it hits the floor on Wednesday.
“Right now it’s [a] work in progress. I’m not willing to do a funeral on it. Obviously on the House side, they’ve already conducted the funeral on it,” Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), the lead GOP negotiator, told reporters after the 90-minute meeting.
— Al Weaver