Key events
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.
