Lower chamber of Congress will vote on Biden appointee’s status in office ‘as soon as possible’ according to Speaker Mike Johnson.
All 18 Republican members of the House Committee on Homeland Security (HCHS) voted on Jan. 31 after more than 14 hours of often impassioned debate to refer two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the full House for a final vote as the panel’s 15 Democrats unanimously opposed the measure.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he expects the impeachment measure to be voted on by the House of Representatives “as soon as possible.”
Before that can happen, however, the House Rules Committee, led by Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.), must adopt a rule for how the articles will be considered for that vote, including whether to allow amendments from the floor.
When the measure does reach the House floor for a final vote, there are 14 Democrats who may face a tough decision on how they will vote regarding Mr. Mayorkas’ future. That is because each of the 14 voted in favor of H. Res. 957 on Jan. 17. That resolution was approved by the full House on a 225-187 vote, with 21 members not voting. Twelve of the 21 not voting were Democrats and nine were Republicans.
The resolution put the House on record in denouncing “the Biden administration’s open-borders policies … condemn[ing] the national security and public safety crisis that President Joe Biden, ‘Border Czar’ Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and other Biden administration officials have created along the southwest border; and urg[ing] President Biden to end his administration’s open-borders policies.”
The 14 Democrats include Colin Allred of Texas, Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Angie Craig of Minnesota, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Greg Landsman of Ohio, Susie Lee of Nevada, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Wiley Nickel of North Carolina, Mary Peltola of Alaska, Marie Perez of Washington, and Eli Sorenson of Illinois.
Article I of the measure accuses Mr. Mayorkas of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” and claims that, “In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States.
“His refusal to obey the law is not only an offense against the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, it also threatens our national security and has had a dire impact on communities across the country.”
