What’s next for Republicans in Congress after vote to impeach homeland security secretary

Amna Nawaz:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas became the first presidential Cabinet member to report to work the day after getting impeached.

House Republicans eked out exactly the votes they needed to pass the articles in a 215-214 vote.

Lisa Desjardins joins me now to help us understand what comes next and why Republicans will soon have even more difficulty passing their agenda.

So, Lisa, let's start with impeachment, another rare moment in U.S. history.

What happens now?

Lisa Desjardins:

OK, let's talk about here.

A reminder of what was passed by — narrowly, the most narrow margin possible in the House, last night. The impeachment articles, there are two. House Republicans in these articles accuse Secretary Mayorkas of two things. They say willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and breach of public trust.

As you read the 20 pages of the articles, really, what they're accusing him of is a litany of grievances about the border crisis itself. There has not been any direct evidence that he himself went out of his way to make sure that laws were broken.

And we know that some Border Patrol associations have said, in fact, they think things have gotten better. Not everyone agrees with that. But this will be a question going forward for the Senate. The other public trust breach was Republicans say he lied to Congress.

He says, no, that was a semantic argument over whether the border is, in fact, something that is secure or not. So, OK, let's talk about what's next. That's where we're at.

This will move to the Senate. It will move to the Senate in about two weeks. Here's the timeline. February 26, the managers appointed by Republicans will carry the impeachment articles over to the Senate. Then, the next day, senators will be sworn in as jurors for this potential trial.

Now, here's what's interesting, Amna. The Democrats and Leader Schumer's office believe that there could be other options here to either hold a short trial or move to dismiss this altogether. This is an area of constitutional law that we don't encounter a lot.

What might be important here is where Senate Republicans are, of course. They tell me they do not think this is a serious impeachment effort. There are some who will. But the majority of them, including Senator James Lankford, who was working on border security, told me they're not taking this seriously. They don't think this reaches the bar for impeachment.

So I think right now we're looking at either a very short trial or potentially an attempt at no trial at all.

Amna Nawaz:

All this comes, of course, after Republicans, thanks to a special election in New York last night, have an even tighter margin they're working with in the House. How is that going to impact things in Congress?

Lisa Desjardins:

Well, the margin, as you say, is tight, and they will lose one vote. So this means that House Republicans will not be able to spare really more than three votes.

And depending on the attendance, even fewer than that, once Tom Suozzi is brought — is sworn in, the former rep winning last night. We expect him to be sworn in February 28, as we see all that impeachment activity going on in the Senate. Now, he said he won — this is notably — notable — not just because of his — the fact that he's been in the district for a while, but because of border issues themselves.

Rep.-Elect Tom Suozzi (D-NY):

This race was centered on immigration and the economy, much like the issues all across our country. We won this race. We, you won this race.

Lisa Desjardins:

Democrats are very happy. He won the race, whoever is responsible.

Now, I don't think they believe that this tells them everything about November, but I think both sides today expectations have shifted in the House, Republicans and Democrats telling me now that they think that Democrats more likely to pick up the House this fall.

Amna Nawaz:

All of that brings us, of course, to the two biggest issues before Congress right now, the Ukraine aid bill and border security funding. Both are now in the hands of that House.

What's your reporting on whether we're going to see action either of those?

Lisa Desjardins:

A lot to talk about here.

As we have been talking to viewers about, all of this has sort of surrounded House Republicans and that narrow margin, but yet them insisting that they get what they want. House Republicans initially offered a very conservative bill called H.R.2 on the border. The Senate rejected that, didn't take it up.

And then House Speaker Johnson, as we have been saying, and others demanded that border and Ukraine be put together. Then Speaker Johnson turned around and also said, no, I won't accept the compromise in the Senate.

So I asked Speaker Johnson today, you have said you will not take up either the border package with Ukraine or the Ukraine package without it. What is it you, Speaker Johnson, are doing on either of those issues? Here's what he responded.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):

So what we're doing right now is, we — the House is working its will. The House Republican Conference, we just met an hour ago with all the members, and there are lots of ideas on the table of how to address these issues. We will address the issues. We will do our duty on that matter. And all that begins in earnest right now.

Lisa Desjardins:

Amna, he ended the news conference right after that. I did not hear a specific answer.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, U.S. officials, the administration, argue that Ukraine aid is critical. What are we hearing from them?

Lisa Desjardins:

They are trying to signal to Ukraine, hang in there.

Here's what we heard from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin today.

Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: The outcome of Ukraine's fight against Putin's imperial aggression will help define global security for decades.

And for people of principle and governments of conscience, standing aside while Ukraine fights for its very existence is not an option. Ukraine will not surrender, and neither will we.

Lisa Desjardins:

Those are very strong words. However, there is not yet an option in Congress that will clearly get through to fund Ukraine. There is a majority support in both chambers. It's a needle that needs to be thread.

Congress has a time issue here. We're going to be watching closely.

Amna Nawaz:

A lot of important issues stuck in Congress right now. Lisa, we're so glad you're covering them all.

Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.