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House Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas for his mishandling of the southern border crisis in a nail-biting vote that came down to the wire. 

The 216-214 vote marks the second major legislative failure of the day for Republicans who remain deeply divided across the House and Senate.

A series of boos and chants rang out in the House chamber as lawmakers waited minutes for the one outstanding vote who could break the tie – Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who is out for cancer treatment. 

Republicans had hauled back Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., who was recovering from a car accident but walked onto the House floor in a full chest and neck brace to cast a ‘yes’ vote in the unsuccessful impeachment effort.  

Democrats then wheeled in Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, at the last minute in a wheelchair – where he cast the death knell in the Mayorkas impeachment effort. The vote was then 215-215, a failure. 

The vote stalled for several minutes before GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore switched his initial ‘yes’ on impeachment to ‘no’ to bring the tally up to 216, so he could bring the measure up again in the future. 

Earlier, Senate Republicans summarily killed the bipartisan border security deal they spent months negotiating and only released only two days ago. 

The embarrassing blow for Speaker Mike Johnson now sends the House GOP back to the drawing board. It’s unlikely any border policy changes will be made by Congress before the next presidency. 

Impeaching Mayorkas was meant to be a rare unifier for House Republicans who are deeply divided on other issues. GOP leaders were left stunned by the results.  

House Republicans did not pass a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas in Congress ' third major legislative failure of the day

House Republicans did not pass a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas in Congress ‘ third major legislative failure of the day

‘I really haven’t had time to think about it yet,’ Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters when asked for his reaction after the failed vote.

Only minutes later, Speaker Mike Johnson’s $17.6 billion Israel aid stand-alone bill spectacularly failed in a 250 to 218 vote, another humiliating defeat for Republicans in a span of 15 minutes. 

The Department of Homeland Security and Democrats blasted the GOP-led effort as a ‘political stunt’ targeting a man ‘doing the best he can in extreme circumstances.’

Earlier Tuesday, the White House accused Homeland Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., of being anti-Semitic for calling Cuban Jew Alejandro Mayorkas a ‘reptile’ who doesn’t have the ‘b****’ to resign.

The GOP impeachment bid hung by a thread as Speaker Mike Johnson could only afford to lose three total votes. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., who was out for weeks due to a bad car accident, was seen wearing a neck brace back on the House floor.

Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., all opposed impeaching Mayorkas, claiming it was unconstitutional and citing issues with the procedure. 

Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will bring another vote on the Israel bill next week - though the effort to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is likely dead

Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will bring another vote on the Israel bill next week – though the effort to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is likely dead 

The impeachment of Mayorkas comes amid rampant turmoil among House Republicans who cannot get on the same page regarding spending and the $118 billion supplemental funding deal. They even voted to oust their previous speaker Kevin McCarthy last year.

Over 302,000 migrant encounters were made at the southern border in December, according to official Department of Homeland Security figures – an all-time record.

And while Republicans led the charge against the Senate’s bipartisan border and national security deal, Democrats rejected the Israel aid and instead demanded the Senate deal. 

Republicans were the ones who demanded any legislation that would fund Ukraine and Israel must offer them border provisions. But as soon as GOP Leader Mitch McConnell announced the deal was dead, Senate Republicans once again began floating the idea of an aid package for Ukraine and Israel without any border legislation. 

The farcical development came less than an hour after President Joe Biden blamed Donald Trump for leading the bid to tank the law to help improve his chances in the 2024 election.

The bill – including $20 billion for border measures – would mandate the border be shut if there are 5,000 encounters over the course of a week or 8,500 migrants encountered in a single day.

But many Republicans didn’t think it went far enough and are demanding the immediate reinstatement of pandemic-era Title 42, Remain in Mexico policies and border wall construction.

‘They sent us a supplemental funding proposal that has immigration reform but not real border security reform,’ Speaker Mike Johnson complained of the deal.  

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This post first appeared on Daily mail