House Republicans are expected to vote on whether to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, after suffering a massive and public defeat when a similar vote failed last week.
With House Majority Leader Steve Scalise expected to return to Washington, DC, after receiving cancer treatments, House Republicans are expecting to have the necessary votes to overcome their razor thin majority and finally get the impeachment effort over the finish line.
Last week’s stunning blow to House Republicans came when three Republicans –Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher and California Rep. Tom McClintock – joined the Democrats in voting against the resolution. The trio of House Republicans said they did not believe any of the evidence their Republican colleagues uncovered rose to the level of impeachment.
Given the narrow margins in the House, Republicans can only afford to lose a handful of votes depending on the number of members who are absent. A surprise move by Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas to return shortly after surgery to vote last week changed the margins at the eleventh hour, putting Republicans one vote shy of the majority they needed to proceed.
If Republicans successfully impeach Mayorkas on Tuesday, it will be an extremely rare move. Only one Cabinet official has previously been impeached in American history: Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
The embarrassing initial defeat of the Mayorkas impeachment effort – which was quickly followed by another floor failure over a standalone Israel aid package – only crystalized the GOP’s yearlong struggle to govern amid a rambunctious and anemic majority. In the fallout of the failed impeachment vote, Republican lawmakers openly aired their frustrations and pointed fingers as to who is to blame, with…
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