House Speaker Mike Johnson led his narrow majority to two stunning and ultimately unnecessary failures on Tuesday evening.
In a matter of minutes, Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Undeterred, Johnson pressed on with a vote on a $17.6 billion aid package to Israel that, due to the way it was considered, required two-thirds support to pass. It failed, too.
Part of the floundering might not last long, depending on whether House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who has missed votes to receive cancer treatment, can return to Washington to vote. If Scalise can vote, the GOP will be able to impeach the first Cabinet official in nearly 150 years.
Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican who opposed impeaching Mayorkas, told reporters House leadership was confident their push would pass tomorrow, upon Scalise's return — but a spokesperson for Scalise told Bloomberg's Billy House the lawmaker would not be back tomorrow.
And depending on when he does come back, House Democrats could pick up a seat next week when a special election is held in New York to replace former Rep. George Santos.
Regardless, the stench of the back-to-back failures on Tuesday was worsened by the reality that none of it had to happen.
Historically, House leadership pulls consideration of bills or measures that look likely to fail. It is considered a grave embarrassment for a majority party to actually go through with a failed vote.
Part of the failure may have boiled down to a miscalculation by GOP leadership. Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, who was absent in a prior vote, showed up at the last minute — in a wheelchair — to vote against impeaching Mayorkas, essentially tying the vote, according to The Washington Post. GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene even claimed Democrats "hid one of their members" to throw Republicans off.
Since retaking the House following the 2022 midterms, the GOP has put on a masterclass demonstrating how fragile and thin the majority can be.
For days after gaining the majority, the GOP was unable to secure enough votes to make Kevin McCarthy House speaker. Then, after McCarthy's historic removal in October 2023, Republicans took days to sort through a cast of characters before finally deciding on Johnson, who, before his elevation to the line of presidential succession, had mostly been a backbencher.
Between those two events, House GOP leaders lost control of the floor multiple times. At one point, a band of conservatives nuked progress on a Republican-led messaging bill just to flex their power.
The Israel package's struggle further underlines this plight. In the immediate aftermath of Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack, Johnson made the controversial choice to tie assistance to Israel to cuts to President Joe Biden's plan to beef up the IRS. This failed.
After months of talks had thus far failed to unite aid to Israel and Ukraine, Johnson decided to bring up the Israeli aid on its own. Biden issued a veto threat. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan and a bipartisan border deal must all be considered together.
Nonetheless, Johnson pushed ahead with a vote on his plan. Fourteen Republicans joined House Democrats in opposing the aid to Israel, a result that once would have been stunning considering the decades of bipartisan support for the nation.
Now, it's just another reminder of how much of a mess Congress, and in particular, House Republicans, have become.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate — who have railed against the border crisis — also killed a bipartisan border deal on Tuesday.
