After failing to win an impeachment vote last week against a Biden administration official, Republicans have scheduled a “re-vote” on Tuesday in which a long-absent member of their House conference could potentially cast the deciding vote.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas survived an attempted impeachment vote last Tuesday by a vote of 214 House members in favor and 216 against. Four Republicans joined every Democratic member of the chamber in voting against the measure, though only three were actually opposed to impeachment, with the fourth voting against it for procedural reasons so that a re-vote could take place in the future.
If the fourth member voted in favor of the measure later this week, the House vote would be a 215-215 tie. Republicans are hoping that on Tuesday, when House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) returns to the Capitol after having taken time off for cancer treatments, they can hold another impeachment vote and win by the slimmest of margins possible.
The vote would need to happen during the day, as a special election in New York to fill the vacated seat formerly held by George Santos could give Democrats an extra vote in the chamber shortly after. If a delay in the Mayorkas impeachment vote occurs with a Democrat winning that election, and if the three dissenting Republicans remain steadfast against impeachment, the measure would likely fail once again.
If the impeachment measure passes, it would lead to a trial in the Senate, where two-thirds of members would be needed in order to remove Mayorkas from his position. With the upper house of Congress being in Democrats’ control, such an outcome is highly unlikely.
Republicans are ostensibly trying to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of immigration, specifically what they perceive to be his ineptitude in managing DHS and securing the U.S. border with Mexico. However, many legal experts say that his actions don’t reach the standard of impeachable offenses, and that the effort to remove him has more to do with GOP lawmakers attempting to make President Joe Biden look bad ahead of his likely election rematch against former President Donald Trump.
Mayorkas, for his own part, doesn’t seem rattled by the possibility that he could be impeached on Tuesday. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” program over the weekend, the DHS secretary said that the impeachment effort by Republicans hinged on “baseless allegations” against him.
“That’s why I’m really not distracted by them,” Mayorkas added. “I’m focused on the work of the Department of Homeland Security.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.