by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
Despite a razor-thin House GOP majority and a jammed schedule to try to keep the government funded after Jan. 19, committee Republicans today will begin to try to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to implement U.S. law at the southern border and for telling lawmakers that migration under the Biden administration was not a “crisis.”
At the same time, Mayorkas has been toiling at the table with Senate negotiators from both parties to try to hammer out a border security and asylum reform deal that Republicans demand as a condition before potentially backing White House priorities, such as increased aid to Ukraine and Israel, reports The Hill’s Al Weaver.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) asserted Sunday during a CBS News interview that Mayorkas has not performed his duties under law and “lied” to him — now a talking point among House conservatives.
“Secretary Mayorkas is not a good-faith negotiating partner,” Johnson said. “He is unwilling to enforce existing federal law. Why would we believe that he would do any new provision? He’s lied to Congress repeatedly. He’s lied to me personally, under oath… He’s stood in front of my committee on multiple occasions and insisted that the border is closed and secure when everyone in America knows it’s not true.”
Conservative Senate Republicans are skeptical of the House effort to spend time trying to purge Mayorkas from Biden’s Cabinet. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said the secretary “definitely hasn’t done his job” but questioned “where they can get the votes” in the House to impeach him.
And this observation won’t help House Republicans get the votes: Legal expert and conservative commentator Jonathan Turley wrote in an op-ed that Mayorkas’s conduct is not impeachable because it amounts to a disagreement over policy.
- The Hill: Senate Republicans refer to Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attackers who were arrested and convicted as felons, not as “hostages,” which was the false campaign rhetoric used by Trump this week in Iowa.
- The Hill: Lawmakers are cautious about regulating artificial intelligence as the technology spreads rapidly through critical sectors of the economy and governments.
- The Hill: The future of an administration IRS overhaul and fortification of U.S. tax collections is in some doubt under a draft bipartisan, bicameral spending framework for 2024 that would reduce IRS funding in a bow to House GOP ultimatums.
