February was shaping up to be a bad month for the GOP.
Presidential candidate Nikki Haley decided to continue her campaign even after losing a one-person race in Nevada’s primary. The Republican National Committee has been caught up in rumors of an imminent change in leadershi.
And the GOP-led House of Representatives failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Now, the GOP is rebounding. The House successfully impeached Mayorkas on Tuesday, the first Congress ever to impeach a sitting member of the Cabinet.
The House passed the measure by a single vote, 214-213.
The Homeland Security Committee filed two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. They argued that he “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws and that he lied to Congress by denying the security issues at the border.
The Senate is out of session through Feb. 25, and it’s expected to receive the articles of impeachment sometime after that.
However, the Democrat-controlled Senate is unlikely to remove a member of the Biden administration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed the process as a “sham impeachment” and a “new low for House Republicans.”
Democrats have described Mayorkas’ refusal to enforce illegal immigration laws as a political disagreement, not as a high crime or misdemeanor.
President Joe Biden called the impeachment a “blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games.”
Some moderate Republican representatives in the House have shown little interest in impeachment.
Three Republican congressmen — Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Tom McClintock of California — voted twice against impeaching Mayorkas.
The GOP commands only a 219-212 majority, and some representatives were affected by the winter storm in the Northeast, which meant House Speaker Mike Johnson could afford only a few defectors.
However, Majority Leaver Steve Scalise returned to Congress this month following treatment for blood cancer, and he gave the GOP the majority necessary for impeaching Mayorkas.
The House acted just in time. The GOP will see its majority shrink even further shortly, following Democrat Tom Suozzi’s victory in Tuesday’s election to replace the ousted Republican George Santos.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., would serve as an impeachment manager in any potential Senate trial.
Greene hugged Scalise after the impeachment, and she spoke to reporters about the role of Congress. She said senators “better pay attention to the American people and how they feel.”
Take a look at Greene’s remarks —
Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed her gratitude after the House of Representative voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. pic.twitter.com/hoyQDf9BnS
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 14, 2024
In addition to impeaching, Johnson rejected a controversial Senate border security package that Mayorkas had spent weeks negotiating. The speaker has been unable to advance his Republicans’ own proposal, which is a nonstarter in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Other Republicans have encouraged Biden to take executive action. Biden refuses, and so does Mayorkas they say.
“Congress needs to act,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday, “to give me, Secretary Mayorkas, and my administration the tools and resources needed to address the situation at the border.”
The House last impeached a Cabinet secretary in the 1800s. Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary of war, William Belknap, was impeached in a kickback scheme.
The House has never impeached a sitting member of the Cabinet, since Belknap resigned before the vote.
Representatives have filed impeachment articles against a long list of people — including Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.