Republican House speaker Johnson declares Senate immigration deal ‘dead’ – report
Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson told his lawmakers that an immigration policy compromise under negotiation in the Senate that is seen as crucial to getting military aid to Ukraine and Israel approved is “absolutely dead” in his chamber, CNN reports.
The comment comes from rightwing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has already rejected the measures that a bipartisan group of senators are reportedly bargaining over:
Senate border compromise hasn’t been released yet but Speaker Johnson has already declared it dead, according to members leaving conference meeting.
“I just heard Speaker Johnson saying it’s absolutely dead, which is what I wanted to hear,” MTG told me. “As a matter of fact, he…
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 30, 2024
Greene’s remarks bode ill for the compromise, the text of which has not yet been released. Republicans have demanded changes to the immigration system to cut down on undocumented migrants crossing in from Mexico, in exchange for their support for Joe Biden’s proposal to help the militaries of both Ukraine and Israel.
If the House indeed rejects the compromise legislation, it’s unclear how Ukraine aid, which is opposed by rightwing Republicans, will be approved by Congress.
Key events
Joe Biden is spending today attending two campaign events in Florida, but as he departed the White House, reporters asked him to weigh in on various things.
Including the challenges in various states to Donald Trump’s presence on the presidential ballot. Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, but groups have sued to keep him off the ballot, arguing he violated the constitution with his involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
Biden, who polls show may face a tight race against Trump come November, didn’t have much to say about those challenges. Here is video of the president’s comments:
Earlier today, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson denied that he opposed the Senate’s bipartisan immigration talks because Donald Trump wants to campaign on his own hardline approach to the issue.
Last week, it was reported that the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, told his lawmakers behind closed doors that even if the negotiations lead to an agreement, he may not support it so that Trump can run on immigration reform. While McConnell later reportedly walked those comments back, it bodes ill for Congress’s chances of passing legislative fixes to one of the most contentious issues in American politics months in a presidential election year.
Here’s more from Johnson’s remarks today:
CNN’s @mkraju: “Have you spoken to [Trump] about the Senate [border] proposal, and are you simply trying to kill this to help him out in the campaign?”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA): “No, Manu, that’s absurd.” pic.twitter.com/F6L3EKztyP
— The Recount (@therecount) January 30, 2024
Justice department investigating progressive Democrat Cori Bush – report
Punchbowl News reports that the justice department has opened a criminal investigation into progressive House Democrat Cori Bush for misspending federal money intended for her security:
🚨BREAKING NEWS — THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal probe into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation.
The Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records relating to the misspending of federal security money.…
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 30, 2024
The report comes after the House clerk yesterday announced that the sergeant at arms, the chamber’s top law enforcement official, had received a grand jury subpoena for an undisclosed matter.
A member of “The Squad” of progressive female lawmakers, Bush is the first Black woman to represent a Missouri district in Congress. She spoke to the Guardian’s David Smith about her experience in 2022:
Mike Johnson may make his opposition to the immigration compromise official this afternoon.
The Republican House speaker announced he would make a floor speech – his first since being elected the chamber’s leader – at 12.30pm.
On Friday, Johnson strongly hinted that he would oppose the deal, telling Republicans, “if rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway”. The text of the deal hasn’t been released yet, but if Johnson makes good on his threats, it will greatly complicate efforts to pass military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Here’s more about Johnson’s opposition:
Republican House speaker Johnson declares Senate immigration deal ‘dead’ – report
Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson told his lawmakers that an immigration policy compromise under negotiation in the Senate that is seen as crucial to getting military aid to Ukraine and Israel approved is “absolutely dead” in his chamber, CNN reports.
The comment comes from rightwing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has already rejected the measures that a bipartisan group of senators are reportedly bargaining over:
Senate border compromise hasn’t been released yet but Speaker Johnson has already declared it dead, according to members leaving conference meeting.
“I just heard Speaker Johnson saying it’s absolutely dead, which is what I wanted to hear,” MTG told me. “As a matter of fact, he…
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 30, 2024
Greene’s remarks bode ill for the compromise, the text of which has not yet been released. Republicans have demanded changes to the immigration system to cut down on undocumented migrants crossing in from Mexico, in exchange for their support for Joe Biden’s proposal to help the militaries of both Ukraine and Israel.
If the House indeed rejects the compromise legislation, it’s unclear how Ukraine aid, which is opposed by rightwing Republicans, will be approved by Congress.
Thompson then moved to adjourn the hearing, which would delay the committee’s effort to impeach Mayorkas.
But the motion was voted down by the committee’s Republican majority, all 18 of whom voted against it. The 14 Democrats present voted in favor.
In his opening statement, Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the committee, compared the Republicans’ allegations against Alejandro Mayorkas to “throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks”.
“This is a terrible day for the committee, the United States constitution and our great country. Republican members of Congress, sworn to support and defend the constitution, are rejecting the framers’ clear intent, and over two centuries of precedent in favor of a sham impeachment,” Thompson said.
He then went on to call out the homeland security committee’s rightwing members for ginning up charges against the secretary:
The sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is a baseless political stunt by extreme Maga Republicans. Chairman Green, representative (Marjorie) Taylor Greene and others have pushed for, and even fundraised, based on this preplanned, predetermined scapegoating of the secretary in a process akin to throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. Republicans have cooked up vague, unprecedented grounds to impeach secretary Mayorkas refusal to follow the law and a breach of public trust.
Green opened the hearing with an attack on Mayorkas.
“We’re here today not because we want to be, but because we have exhausted all other options, and our duty as members of Congress compels us to exercise our constitutional duty and defend this separate but equal branch of government,” the Tennessee Republican said.
He went on:
At the beginning of this Congress, each of us took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that we would well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office. This is same oath I took many years ago in the army. Several of you also took the same oath in your service to this nation.
Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took a similar oath, but he has not lived up to it. He has willfully and systematically refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress and breached the trust of Congress and the American people. The results have been catastrophic, and have endangered the lives and livelihoods of all Americans.
Homeland security committee begins Mayorkas impeachment hearing
Republican chair Mark Green just gaveled in the House homeland security committee’s hearing into the articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas.
Green is giving his opening statement right now.
Over the weekend, a Republican former homeland security secretary came out against the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Political and policy disagreements aren’t impeachable offenses,” Michael Chertoff wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “The Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach federal officials for treason, bribery and ‘other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’ That’s a high bar. In the history of our republic, only one cabinet secretary has been impeached (for receiving corrupt kickback payments).”
He continued:
As homeland security secretary under President George W Bush – and as a former federal judge, US attorney and assistant attorney general – I can say with confidence that, for all the investigating that the House Committee on Homeland Security has done, they have failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar.
This is why Republicans aren’t seeking to hold Mr Mayorkas to the Constitution’s ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ standard for impeachment. They make the unsupported argument that he is derelict in his duty.
Alejandro Mayorkas is not expected to attend the House homeland security committee’s markup today of the article of impeachment against him.
The hearing appears set to be a debate over the allegations among the panel’s Republican majority and Democratic minority. Mayorkas nonetheless sent the committee’s chair, Mark Green, a letter this morning, in which he aired a number of grievances about the process. Among them, the homeland security says the panel’s lawmakers have already made up their minds about the charges, and turned down an offer from him to testify:
On January 5, 2024, you sent a letter to me requesting that I again appear before the House Homeland Security Committee to provide testimony. I have testified before this Committee seven times. I agreed to testify again and asked to work with your staff to identify a mutually agreeable date. You did not respond to my request, changed course, and instead invited me to submit written testimony. Two days later, you issued a statement representing that every member of the Committee’s majority already had rendered their decision. I respectfully submit this letter in response.
Green released his own statement this morning, where he said: “Secretary Mayorkas’ 11th-hour response to the Committee is inadequate and unbecoming of a Cabinet secretary. Our investigation has established that Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and systemically refused to comply with the laws of the United States and breached the public trust.”
Mayorkas not the only target of House impeachment campaign
It’s not just the homeland security chief Alejandro Mayorkas that House Republicans are going after.
The party is also considering impeaching Joe Biden for alleged corruption, but that effort appears to be on the backburner at the moment, perhaps because lawmakers have not turned up any proof of their allegations. Last month, Republicans held a vote on the House floor to authorize the investigation, months after a disastrous hearing in which their own witnesses said they did not know if the president broke the law. It’s unclear when the House GOP’s next move will occur.
Both the Biden and Mayorkas impeachments suffer from the same problem: uncertainty over whether the GOP has the votes in the House to impeach both men. Regardless, any impeachment article sent to the Senate are expected to quickly be rejected by the chamber’s Democratic majority, which has shown no sign of wanting to convict their own president, or his deputies.
Homeland security chief Mayorkas decries ‘false accusations’ as Republicans kick off impeachment bid
Good morning, US politics blog readers. House Republicans are finally following through on their much-discussed push to impeach the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, who they blame for mishandling security on the southern border. Beginning at 10am ET, the House homeland security committee will consider two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, and, assuming they approve them, a vote by the full House of Representatives could come next week.
This is unlikely to be a process that results in Mayorkas losing his job. Impeachments of cabinet secretaries are rare, and even if the House approves the charges, the Democratic-controlled Senate has shown no interest in pursuing his conviction. In a seven-page letter to the committee’s Republican chair, Mark Green, released today, Mayorkas defended his handling of the surge in migrants arriving from Mexico, and told Green that his “false accusations do not rattle me”. Meanwhile, we are still waiting for the details of a legislative compromise to tighten immigration policy in a way that would reduce the number of migrants entering the country, which Republicans say they want passed in exchange for their votes for aid to Ukraine and Israel, though it’s unclear if even that will be enough.
Here’s what else is going on today:
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Joe Biden is heading to Miami and Jupiter, Florida, for two campaign events in what Democrats once regarded as a swing state, but where the party has been ailing for the past few years.
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Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state under Donald Trump, and Leon Panetta, the former defense secretary under Barack Obama, will testify before a House committee investigating the Chinese Communist party.
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A mysterious subpoena announced yesterday by the House clerk concerns a Democratic lawmaker who allegedly misused government money, Punchbowl News reports. They did not say who the lawmaker is.