Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Tuesday, Feb. 6, in a 214-216 vote. Three Republicans joined every Democrat to kill the impeachment resolution.
Technically, four Republicans voted against the resolution. However, one member of GOP leadership, Rep. Blake Moore, changed his vote from yes to no at the very end, allowing members to bring it up for a second vote at a later date. That’s exactly what they plan to do as soon as next week.
“There hasn’t been a failure yet. We’re going to bring it back,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., told reporters.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., missed the vote because he was receiving cancer treatment. If everyone votes the same way when he returns, the resolution should be approved 216-215.
Tuesday night’s failure went beyond Scalise’s absence.
During a vote on another bill, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was absent, and everyone thought he was in the hospital.
So, when Republican leaders counted who was present, they determined the impeachment resolution would pass based on attendance. Little did they know, Green had checked himself out of the hospital and rolled into the Capitol on a wheelchair to cast his vote against the resolution, making it a tie, which fails.
“Al Green is a great American, a great patriot,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said. “He made it clear to me that it was important for him to be present to cast a vote against the sham impeachment, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, targeting a hard working public servant like Secretary Mayorkas.”
The Republicans who voted against impeachment are Reps. Tom McClintock, Calif., Ken Buck, Colo., and Mike Gallagher, Wis.
McClintock released a 10-page letter explaining his opposition beforehand, and Buck also announced he’d vote no ahead of time. However, Gallagher was a surprise.
“Secretary Mayorkas has faithfully implemented President Biden’s open border policies and helped create the dangerous crisis at the southern border,” Gallagher said in a statement. “But the proponents of impeachment failed to make the argument as to how this stunning incompetence meets the impeachment threshold Republicans outlined while defending former President Trump.”
There were mixed reactions from Republicans about their colleagues who voted no.
“They think it’s on constitutional grounds,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Straight Arrow News. “They certainly don’t believe that he’s done a good job. But no, I have no problem with them. And no, it doesn’t concern me at all.”
“I would really love to see them go home and talk to their voters, the people that hired them to come here,” Greene said. “I know that several of them have very strong Republican districts.”
Some Republicans appear to be holding out hope that at least one of them may change their mind and vote to impeach. Greene said members need to think about it over the weekend.
