Dem
51
GOP
49
House Republicans are itching to impeach someone. The hottest of the hotheads want to go after Joe Biden, but there is enough institutional memory of what happened after the House Republicans impeached Bill Clinton in 1998 to put that project on the back burner for the moment (though that could change if Filegate gets out of hand). The "moderates" are more willing to start lower on the totem pole and go after a cabinet secretary. But even though they mostly agree on a target, namely DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, they are divided on tactics. Should there be hearings first or should they stop pretending there is actually some "there" there and just impeach him right now? After all, it is all for show since there is no way there will be 67 votes in the Senate for conviction. The trial might not even last more than a couple of days.
One of the Congressman with ants in his pants is Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), who has already introduced articles of impeachment, even though no hearings of any kind have been held yet. His articles say that Mayorkas lied to Congress when he testified that the border is secure, so he is being impeached for lying to Congress. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) tried to upstage Fallon by staying he will come with his own resolution shortly, and anyway, it was his idea to impeach Mayorkas, not Fallon's. Fallon is not interested in waiting for Biggs. He wants the impeachment to start now and he got 20 Republicans to sign onto his resolution already.
On the other hand, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose district has the longest border with Mexico of all 435 districts, is not in such a big hurry. He said: "Impeachment is a very serious topic, and it's one where the facts need to lead you to the results, not have a predetermined decision." He wants to hold hearings and see how that goes.
Now Kevin McCarthy will start his on-the-job training. The House Republican caucus is badly split on many things and he is the one who has to herd the cats. Nancy Pelosi has a black belt and also a Ph.D. in cat herding. She made it look easy. Now McCarthy gets to show his stuff. Getting to 218 was not a one-shot deal. He is going to have to do this weekly, if not daily.
In all of American history, only one cabinet member was ever impeached. It was President Ulysses Grant's secretary of war, William Belknap, who was accused of taking kickbacks from a contractor he hired to run a trading post in Oklahoma. Belknap resigned before the Senate trial to escape an almost certain conviction. Mayorkas has absolutely no intention of resigning. (V)