Share this @internewscast.com

WASHINGTON — Republicans hope the second time will be a charm. 

Exactly a week after failing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border, House Republicans will try again Tuesday to send articles of impeachment across the Capitol to the Democratic-led Senate.

They have zero room for error. Last week, a trio of skeptical Republicans — Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin — teamed up with all Democrats to force a 215-215 tie, tanking the impeachment vote and delivering an embarrassing blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his leadership team.

As he faced blowback from his party, Gallagher said over the weekend that he will not seek re-election this fall.

With Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., returning to Washington this week after receiving treatment for blood cancer, Republicans hope to be back at full strength and have the votes to impeach Mayorkas this time around. But with the margins so tight, unexpected absences could be a factor, especially with a major snowstorm bearing down on the Northeast making travel to Washington, D.C., difficult.

The GOP also wants to regroup and push forward now because of the potential impact of Tuesday’s special election to replace George Santos, the expelled former New York Republican congressman.

If the Democratic nominee, former Rep. Tom Suozzi, defeats Republican Mazi Pilip and can be sworn in quickly, it means that Republicans can lose only two GOP lawmakers on any vote and that the Mayorkas impeachment would likely be dead.

If Tuesday’s vote is successful, Mayorkas would become just the second Cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be impeached — and the first in nearly 150 years.

The vote comes in the wake of the collapse of a rare bipartisan Senate deal that would have imposed tougher asylum and border policies. But former President Donald Trump and Johnson expressed vocal opposition to the agreement, saying that it didn’t go far enough to stop illegal immigration, and Senate GOP leaders who had been involved in the talks abandoned it soon after, punting any potential border legislation until well after the November election.

During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mayorkas dismissed the impeachment articles as “baseless allegations” and rejected the idea that he bears responsibility for the overwhelming number of migrants illegally crossing the southern border.

“It certainly is a crisis, and we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system, and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system,” he said. “But fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix it.”

The GOP’s impeachment resolution, originally authored by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., cleared the House Homeland Security Committee late last month and spells out two articles.

The first accuses Mayorkas of “willfully and systemically” refusing to comply with federal immigration laws. Because of that, it says, “millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States.”

The second article says that Mayorkas “breached the public trust” by making false statements to Congress and knowingly obstructing congressional oversight of the Homeland Security Department.

While all but a few House Republicans have united behind the impeachment push, several GOP senators have poured cold water on the effort. It’s almost certain that Mayorkas would be acquitted by the Senate given that two-thirds, or 67 senators, would be needed to convict and remove the secretary, whose Democratic Party controls the Senate.

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like

‘Wedding Crashers’ Star Vince Vaughn Visits Donald Trump At White House

Vince Vaughn dropped by the Oval Office on Friday, becoming the latest…

Authorities Identify Caitlin Hodges, Missing Woman from Crystal Lake, Illinois, Last Seen in Goldsboro, North Carolina

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — There are still many questions Jennifer Allio and her…

Pete Hegseth suffers yet another major blow as Pentagon is sent into ‘chaos’ over Signal chat fallout

The Pentagon is reeling as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces growing instability…

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows is 86% off

Discover startups, services, products and more from our partner StackCommerce. New York…

Putin announces an Easter truce amid conflict in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, citing…

rewrite this title ‘My heart goes out to him’: North Side neighbor shares concern for man mistakenly shot at 9 times

SAN ANTONIO – A drive-by shooting Friday morning came as a complete…

Illinois-Indiana border: Indiana takes a first, and long, shot at redrawing state lines to acquire parts of Illinois

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is taking a first step toward acquiring parts of…

Plane crashes into Nebraska river, killing all passengers on board

A small plane crashed into a Nebraska river on Friday night, killing…

rewrite this title Intoxicated man arrested, accused of injuring officer after walking into traffic, SAPD says

SAN ANTONIO – A man has been arrested, accused of injuring a…

Trump on mistakenly deported man: 'I was elected to take bad people out of the United States'

(The Hill) — President Trump argued that he was elected in November…

Birmingham man arrested on drug trafficking charges

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division…

Judge orders detained Tufts student Rumeysa Öztürk to be transferred back to Vermont

A federal judge on Friday ordered that the Tufts University student who…