House Republicans are finding themselves once again in disarray as two measures failed on Tuesday night thanks to a small group of representatives joining Democrats and a failure to find common ground.
The House held a vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday night after weeks of criticism over the situation at the US-Mexico border. However, thanks to three dissenting Republicans, the vote failed, resulting in Mayorkas keeping his job.
The other measure that failed was an Israel aid package that again wasn’t able to get the votes necessary from both sides of the aisle. The bill would have sent $17.6 billion in aid to Israel.
The recent failures in the House are reminiscent of what past Republican leadership faced before former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his position, eventually resulting in him leaving office altogether.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) told Axios in an interview that the issue amongst Republicans is they “don’t have a command of the field.”
“I knew that we would have … the ability to block the Democrat agenda,” Zinke told Axios. “We’ve exceeded my wildest expectations on blocking because we not only block the Democrat agenda, we block the Republican agenda.”
The three Republicans who dissented in the Mayorkas vote were Reps. Mike Gallagher (WI), Ken Buck (CO), and Tom McClintock (CA). By joining Democrats, the vote ended in a 215-215 tie, as the Republican majority in the House remains slim.
After the vote, several Republican representatives voiced their frustration over the party’s failure to impeach the secretary, with some calling it “shameful,” though the three who voted with Democrats said it wasn’t the main problem.
“Creating a new, lower standard for impeachment ... won’t secure the border,” Gallagher said in a statement.
Their fellow representatives shared with Axios that they didn’t agree.
“I’m frustrated,” Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) said. “There’s a plethora of reasoning and justification and evidence ... I just don’t understand why we can’t do the one thing the American people want.”
As for the Israel funding bill, a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the measure, which they failed to obtain. The legislation was struck down 250-180, with 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposing.
Speaker Mike Johnson said the failure to pass the measure was “a disappointing rebuke to our closest ally in the Middle East at their time of great need.”
“It is clear they are now committed to using Israel aid as leverage to force through other priorities that do not enjoy nearly the same degree of consensus,” Johnson’s statement said. “Leveraging Israel aid as it fights for survival is wrong.”
The attempt to pass an Israel funding bill also comes amid standoffs over a bill that would offer aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and address the border.