By LISA MASCARO | AP Congressional Correspondent
WASHINGTON — In a dramatic setback, House Republicans failed Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, forced to shelve a high-profile priority — for now — after a few GOP lawmakers refused to go along with the party’s plan.
The stunning roll call fell just a single vote short of impeaching Mayorkas, stalling the Republicans’ drive to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S-Mexico border. With Democrats united against the charges, the Republicans needed almost every vote from their slim majority to approve the articles of impeachment.
In a dramatic, rowdy scene on the House floor, the vote was tied for several minutes, 215-215. Several Republican lawmakers — led by the impeachment’s chief sponsor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — surrounded one of the holdouts, Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher, who refused to change his vote. With the tally stuck, Democrats shouted for the gavel to close out the vote.
The House is likely to revisit plans to impeach Mayorkas, but next steps are highly uncertain. In the end three Republicans opposed the impeachment, and a fourth Republican switched his vote so the measure could be revisited. The final tally was 214-216.
“Frustrated,” said Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, “but we’ll see it back again.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who could lose only a few Republicans from his slim majority, had said earlier he had personally spoken to Gallagher and another GOP holdout, acknowledging the “heavy, heavy” vote as he sought their support.
“It’s an extreme measure,” said Johnson, R-La. “But extreme times call for extreme measures.”
Not since 1876 has a Cabinet secretary faced impeachment charges and it’s the first time a sitting secretary is being impeached — 148 years ago, Secretary of War William Belknap resigned just before the vote.
The…
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