The Houston Democrat is recovering from abdominal surgery. Democrats did not expect him to attend the vote, but his surprise appearance sank the impeachment vote.
All of Texas’ House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to secure the southern border, but the House fell short of passing the historic resolution on Tuesday after Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, rushed to the House from the hospital where he was recovering from abdominal surgery to vote no.
The impeachment failed on a 216-214 vote. Four Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the impeachment. The House has not impeached a member of a president’s cabinet in nearly 150 years.
The vote was extremely close, with the outcome unknown until the end of the vote. U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House select committee on China, voted against the resolution. Numerous Republicans, including Texan Reps. Michael McCaul and Jodey Arrington were seen circling around Gallagher as he held out on his vote.
U.S. Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Tom McClintock of California also voted against impeachment. U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, ended up changing his vote to a no at the last minute, tanking the vote but allowing Republicans to bring it up again in the future.
House Republicans were counting on Green to be absent. But he arrived just in time in a wheelchair and scrubs to give Democrats enough votes to kill the impeachment.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Numerous Republicans, including Texan Reps. Michael McCaul and Jodey Arrington were seen circling around Gallagher as he held out on his vote.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who launched Tuesday’s impeachment effort, said Democrats had plotted to make Republicans miscount the number of votes they needed.
The vote to oust Mayorkas is the latest GOP effort to attack the Biden administration over the border crisis, as illegal crossings have reached record highs.
Impeachment is historically used as an extraordinary measure but has become a common rallying cry among Republicans against Democratic targets, including Mayorkas and President Joe Biden.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said the impeachment vote was a distraction from the House Republican Conference’s inability to pass legislation into law since taking the majority.
“When you have no record of accomplishment to run on, nothing on education, nothing on health care, nothing about creating jobs, nothing on the environment, nothing about keeping people safe, this is what you do.
The original article contains 890 words, the summary contains 161 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!