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Two U.S. House members from Florida missed the vote Tuesday that secured Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment attributable to massive flight delays.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., stated he would vote to question Mayorkas, whereas Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., absolutely anticipated to vote in opposition to impeaching the Biden Cabinet official, but each members of Congress did not get again to Washington, D.C., in time attributable to massive delays at Palm Beach International Airport.
Mast shared a video to X from the airport “on about hour nine of waiting for a flight with a broken circuit board.”
“Hoping to get off the ground soon, but they did just call votes in the House of Representatives as they normally do at this time, and it looks like I’m going to miss the vote to impeach Mayorkas,” he stated. “I was there for the first one – absolutely voted to do that – but it looks like I’m going to miss this one.”
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“There’s a couple other Palm Beach reps here as well. Lois Frankel is here in the airport sitting back there behind me,” Mast stated, exhibiting the seating space subsequent to the flight gate. “A few other representatives from this area that are going to miss it as well. But that is how I would be definitely doing that had I been there – there went Lois walking behind me.”
In the put up itself, Mast wrote, “Not only is Secretary Mayorkas horrible at his job, he is willfully refusing to do it. Thankfully, despite mechanical failures on my flight, we still had enough votes to impeach him tonight. He has abandoned the trust of the American people, and he deserves to be impeached.”
Frankel additionally confirmed the flight delay in an announcement of her personal.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a information convention about safety forward of Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Feb. 7, 2024. The House voted to question Mayoraks over the border disaster. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP by way of Getty Images)
“Unfortunately, my flight from Palm Beach to Washington was severely delayed today. I waited at the airport for eight hours, which caused me, along with a Republican colleague on the same flight, to miss the vote. Had I been present, I would have voted no, as I did last week,” Frankel stated. “House Republicans’ vote to impeach Secretary Mayorkas despite having no evidence of wrongdoing was a shameful political stunt that does nothing to fix our broken immigration system.”
The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to question Mayorkas over his dealing with of the border disaster – by only one vote.
Rep. Brian Mast speaks throughout a House Committee on Foreign Affairs listening to on Capitol Hill on Jan. 11, 2024. He missed the second House vote to question Secretary Mayorkas. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
The 214-213 vote traditionally made Mayorkas the primary ever sitting U.S. Cabinet official to be impeached. It was practically 150 years in the past that President Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary of warfare, William Belknap, resigned earlier than the House accredited articles of impeachment in opposition to him over a kickback scheme in authorities contracts. The Senate acquitted Belknap that very same yr, 1876.
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The prices in opposition to Mayorkas subsequent go to the Senate for a trial, however neither Democratic nor even some Republican senators have proven curiosity within the matter, and it might be indefinitely shelved to a committee, in keeping with The Associated Press. The Senate is anticipated to obtain the articles of impeachment from the House after returning to session Feb. 26.
It was House Republicans’ second try and impeach Mayorkas after a vote failed final week.
Rep. Lois Frankel at a rally exterior the U.S. Capitol in help of President Biden’s $16 billion request for youngster care supplemental funding on Dec. 6, 2023. Frankel was delayed at Palm Beach International Airport for hours Tuesday. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Care Can’t Wait Action)
Three House Republicans who broke ranks final week over the Mayorkas impeachment – Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Tom McClintock of California – all did so once more Tuesday. With a 219-212 majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had few votes to spare. His margin obtained even smaller later Tuesday night time when New York Democrat Thomas Suozzi received a particular election to the seat as soon as held by Republican George Santos earlier than his expulsion from Congress.
In a dramatic improvement the primary time round, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, left the hospital mattress the place he was recovering from surgical procedure to forged his “no” vote in opposition to Mayorkas’ impeachment.
Joining the three Republican defectors, Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, switched his vote to “no” on the final minute – a procedural transfer to have the ability to carry the decision again to the ground.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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