Two U.S. congressmen from Florida failed to vote Tuesday to secure the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over massive flight delays.
Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast has indicated he will vote in favor of impeaching Mayorkas, while Florida Rep. Lois Frankel fully expects to vote against impeaching Biden Cabinet members. However, neither senator was able to vote against impeachment. Major delays at Palm Beach International Airport made it to Washington, D.C., in time.
Mast shared a video with X from the airport “about 9 hours into waiting for a plane with a broken circuit board.”
“We’d like to get back on track quickly, but right now we’ve just had a normal House vote, and it looks like we’ll miss the impeachment vote on Mr. Mayorkas,” he said. “I attended the first event – absolutely voted to do so – but I think I’m going to miss out this time.”
House Republicans who oversaw Mayorkas’ impeachment will not run for reelection
“There are a few other Palm Beach reps here. Lois Frankel is sitting behind me here at the airport,” Mast said, pointing to the seating area next to the flight gate. “Some of the other representatives from the area are going to be out as well. But if I was there, I definitely would have been. Royce was walking behind me.”
In the post itself, Mast wrote, “Secretary Mayorkas is not only terrible at his job, he is intentionally refusing to work. Thankfully, despite a mechanical failure on my plane, tonight… There were still enough votes to impeach him. He waived impeachment.” He has the trust of the American people and deserves to be impeached. ”
Frankel also acknowledged the flight delay in his own statement.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press conference on security ahead of Super Bowl III in Las Vegas on February 7, 2024. The House of Representatives passed a resolution to impeach Mayorax over the border crisis. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“Unfortunately, my flight from Palm Beach to Washington was significantly delayed today. I waited at the airport for eight hours. As a result, I, along with my Republican colleagues who were on the same flight, missed out on voting. “If I had been there, I wouldn’t have been able to vote,’ as I did last week, and I would have voted no,” Frankel said. “House Republicans’ vote to impeach Mayorkas despite no evidence of wrongdoing is a shameful political stunt that will do nothing to fix our broken immigration system. was.”
The House voted Tuesday to impeach Mayorkas by just one vote over his handling of the border crisis.
Congressman Brian Mast speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on January 11, 2024, at the Capitol. He missed the second House vote to impeach Mayorkas. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
With a vote of 214-213, Mayorkas became the first sitting U.S. Cabinet member to be impeached. It was almost 150 years ago that President Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William Belknap, resigned before the House approved articles of impeachment against him over a government contract kickback scheme. The Senate acquitted Belknap in the same year, 1876.
User manual on what happens next now that the House has impeached Mayorkas
The charges against Mr. Mayorkas will be heard next in the Senate, but Democrats and even some Republican senators have shown no interest in the matter, and the matter remains in committee indefinitely, according to the Associated Press. It is possible that it will be put on hold. The Senate is scheduled to receive articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives after resuming session on February 26th.
It was House Republicans’ second attempt to impeach Mayorkas after a vote last week failed.
Congresswoman Lois Frankel attends a rally in front of the Capitol in support of President Biden’s $16 billion child care funding request on December 6, 2023. On Tuesday, Rep. Frankel was delayed for several hours at Palm Beach International Airport. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images, Action Can’t Wait for Care)
All three House Republicans — Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Tom McClintock of California — split again on Tuesday over the impeachment of Mayorkas. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) had a 219-212 majority, with few votes remaining. Late Tuesday night, his lead widened further as New York Democrat Thomas Suozzi won a special election for the seat held by Republican George Santos before he was expelled from Congress. It became smaller.
In the first dramatic development, Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green left his hospital bed recovering from surgery to vote “no” on Mayorkas’ impeachment.
Click to get the FOX News app
In addition to the three defectors, Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) also switched his vote to “no” at the last minute. This was a procedural move to return the resolution to the floor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
