The current U.S. House of Representatives hasn’t had a very good run by historical standards, passing record low levels of legislation and — as of yesterday — losing a sixth rule vote, a situation Punchbowl News archly describes this way: “This Republican majority has lost more rule votes than any other majority in five decades, a stunning sign of weakness.”
The GOP-led House did have a success this week, at least by certain MAGA partisan metrics, as it impeached — on its second try — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Cabinet member to be impeached by the House in nearly 150 years.
Congressman Mark Green (R-TN), chair of the Homeland Security Committee, led the Mayorkas impeachment effort. With the impeachment succeeding — by a one vote margin (214-213) — Green announced he would not seek re-election because “Congress is broken.”
“Our country–and our Congress–is broken beyond most means of repair,” the Tennessee Lookout reports Green as saying. “I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington. As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country — but in a new capacity.”
Green, a physician, West Point graduate and uncanny stock trader who reportedly showed 122% gains on investments he made as a Congressman in 2023, did not immediately reveal what the “new capacity” will be.
Democrats have repeatedly characterized the Mayorkas impeachment efforts as a “sham,” especially in light of the GOP conference’s record ineptitude. The impeachment sparked oppositional outrage at the GOP majority’s priorities, as it was tucked into a fallow legislative period marked by a fracas over the failed bipartisan Senate border security bill and House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s subsequent refusal to put a bipartisan Senate supplemental security bill on the floor.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Mayorkas impeachment a “new low” for the House.
