Reps. Andy Biggs (R-05) and Eli Crane (R-02), along with other House Republicans, failed to convince their colleagues to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis.
Biggs asserted that Mayorkas was in violation of the separation of powers, citing the secretary’s inaction on the removal of over one million illegal immigrants eligible for deportation, and neglect of Title 8.
“That has resulted in great injury to our communities, and that is why he must be impeached, because he falls within the definition of one of the Founders, James Iredell said, and he’s right on the money,” said Biggs.
The great James Iredell — one of our first Supreme Court Justices — said that “the power of impeachment is given by this Constitution to bring great offenders to punishment.”
He's right.
The House must use this leverage to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this evening. pic.twitter.com/eCKFy4f9M5
Despite the number of illegal immigrant crossings and drug trafficking reaching unprecedented record highs under President Joe Biden, Mayorkas has maintained that the border crisis originated from decades of congressional inaction rather than the policy of this current administration.
Mayorkas and other Democratic leaders support the $118 billion Senate bill described as a border bill, though a majority of the funding goes to Ukraine and other countries.
The bipartisan agreement in the Senate is tough, fair, and takes meaningful steps to address the challenges our country faces after decades of Congressional inaction. (1/10)
Lawmakers opposed to the bill pointed out its increased leniency for illegal immigration, such as a provision allowing those who either make it over 100 miles or remain longer than 14 days in the country to avoid deportation. The bill also would create a new, nonimmigrant visa subcategory enabling noncitizens to visit family members, as well as removing illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico or Canada out of total encounters.
The bill also included another $60 billion for Ukraine, while providing just over $20 billion for the border, over $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid, over $6 billion for a variety of over projects, nearly $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific, and over $2 billion for the Red Sea conflict.
President Joe Biden claimed the bill wasn’t perfect: not because it didn’t close the border more for illegal immigration, but because it didn’t go far enough to grant citizenship for those illegal immigrants within the country.
This bipartisan national security bill may not address everything I would have wanted.
But the reforms in this bill are essential for making our border more orderly, more humane, and more secure. pic.twitter.com/Cz0OdaZkse
Some lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas would ignore limited enforcement measures passed.
During Tuesday’s debate on Mayorkas’ impeachment, Crane accused the secretary of that very inaction on immigration enforcement.
“How many Americans have to die of fentanyl, MS-13 gang members, having their kids raped and murdered?” asked Crane. “It’s high time that [Mayorkas] be held accountable for his complete dereliction of duty at our southern border.”
.@RepEliCrane on @SecMayorkas impeachment: "How many Americans have to die of fentanyl, MS-13 gang members, having their kids raped and murdered?… It's high time that Mayorkas be held accountable for his complete dereliction of duty at our southern border." pic.twitter.com/QWWscauaJt
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-04), in a joint statement with the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), called the impeachment a “sham,” and blamed Republicans for the state of the border.
The House GOP has relentlessly pursued a sham impeachment of @SecMayorkas, but they just rejected a strong, bipartisan border security bill without even reading it.
It’s shameful, and it’s Arizona communities that are paying the price.
Three Republicans — Reps. Ken Buck (CO), Mike Gallagher (WI), and Tom McClintock (CA) — joined Democrats in defeating the impeachment measure, 214-216.
However, House GOP leadership say that Tuesday’s vote wouldn’t be the last attempt at impeaching Mayorkas. A spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA) said he plans to whip more votes.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona lawmakers mostly split along party lines in their votes last Friday on the continuing resolution that averted a government shutdown.
Freshman Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-03) was the only Republican to join his Democratic colleagues — Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07), and Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04) — in voting for the continuing resolution. Both Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema voted for it as well.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09), and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) all voted against the resolution.
Ciscomani said that the avoidance of a shutdown was of greater concern than a future financial burden.
Today I supported a temporary funding package to keep our government open. Plain & simple: this was not my first, second, or even third choice. In my first nine months in Congress, I have seen just how broken Washington is and nothing sums it up quite like the last few weeks.…
The resolution notably omitted funding for Ukraine. However, the House approved a separate bill sending another $300 million to the country and establishing an Office of the Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance.
Ciscomani, Gallego, Grijalva, Lesko, Schweikert, and Stanton all voted for that bill. Biggs, Crane, and Gosar voted against it.
In a statement, Gosar said that the U.S. shouldn’t issue any more funding for the proxy war. The federal government has sent over $100 billion to Ukraine. Gosar said the federal government should be advancing its own national security interest by securing the border.
“The southern border is under a sustained attack and invasion. Over eight million illegal aliens have entered the country,” said Gosar. “Rather than sending another dime to Ukraine, we should put our country first by increasing the pay of our brave service members right here in the United States.”
Following his “no” vote, Biggs declared that he would oppose the re-election of California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, citing the approved continuing resolution.
Last November, I ran for House Speaker because I feared that Kevin McCarthy would not rein in federal spending and take on Democrats.
As seen by his latest CR, these fears are now reality.
Biggs criticized the leadership-approved continuing resolution as a maintenance of unsustainable spending levels established by President Joe Biden, former House Speaker and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-11), and Senate President Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Instead of siding with his own party today, Kevin McCarthy sided with 209 Democrats to push through a continuing resolution that maintains the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer spending levels and policies.
Crane said that the approval of any continuing resolutions at this point was reckless. He blamed continuing resolutions as a major part of the $33 trillion debt burdening the country.
Congress is doing future generations of Arizonans a huge disservice by governing through these reckless CRs.
Crane further reflected on the continuing resolution with some levity on Monday.
“I’m heartened to see that Congress is getting serious now that we’ve avoided a shutdown for another 45 days,” said Crane. “Tonight, we will take critical steps to fix the national debt by considering legislation to rename some post offices.”
I’m heartened to see that Congress is getting serious now that we’ve avoided a shutdown for another 45 days.
Tonight, we will take critical steps to fix the national debt by considering legislation to rename some post offices.
However, Democrats viewed the government shutdown as a worse alternative to worsening the national debt.
Gallego did criticize the fact that the continuing resolution became an option in the very last moments possible.
Today, I joined a bipartisan group of my colleagues to avert a government shutdown, but let’s be clear – we should never have had to wait to the 11th hour to make this happen.
As Congress continues to debate funding over the next month, I’ll keep fighting for Arizona.
Stanton blamed “MAGA extremists” for nearly causing a government shutdown. He expressed dissatisfaction with the bill’s omission of even more funding for Ukraine on top of the $300 million he voted for in the separate bill passed Friday, as well as border security.
Today I joined Republicans & Democrats to avert a government shutdown.
This short-term bill is far from perfect. It leaves out critical funding to secure our border and support for Ukraine—I will continue to fight for these Arizona priorities.
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04) and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego will host a re-election campaign fundraiser for President Joe Biden later this month.
The reception will take place Sept. 28 through the Biden Victory Fund. Tickets range from a $3,300 minimum to $100,000. The location of the event is confidential, for attendees only.
The fundraiser will occur the day after the first Republican Party presidential debate in Simi Valley, California.
The contact for the event, Guicela Sandoval-Lopez, is a political consultant with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Susie T. Buell Foundation.
Gallego told reporters that she’s confident Arizona will remain a blue state in 2024.
The pair are also on the campaign trail defending their incumbency. Though Stanton entertained a challenge to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), he announced at the start of the year that he intended on remaining in the House.
The mayor and her council — along with her former husband and Stanton’s fellow congressman, Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) — have been petitioning for the Biden administration to declare the desert heat as an emergency. Such a declaration would ensure a consistent and ample source of federal funding for various municipal projects.
The Biden administration appears to be heeding that request. In July, Biden issued several heat relief directives in a joint call with Gallego and San Antonio, Texas Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
Biden’s directives resulted in a Heat Hazard Alert outlining federal heat-related protections, as well as increased enforcement mechanisms by the Labor Department.
Despite those actions and the administration’s estimation of $50 billion in funding to counter heat due to climate change, Gallego told Biden that Phoenix needed more.
“We would love it if Congress would give you the ability to declare heat a disaster,” said Gallego. “We think that could really save additional aid, and that would even more multiply the impact of FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance and Building Resistant — Resilience Infrastructure — the BRIC programs, which are a good start to building long-term solutions, such as energy redundancy for cooling centers.”
The Phoenix mayor has remained a steadfast supporter of the president. She helped his initial campaign as well.
Happening tomorrow: Join @DNC Chair @TomPerez and me in north Phoenix as the Biden Bus rolls into town!
Come grab some literature and help us deliver it to neighborhoods, then grab signs to show your @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris pride.
In 2021, Gallego was one of eight mayors invited to the White House to weigh in on proposed infrastructure funding, some of which reportedly went to combating climate change.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego heeded the call of Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, urging for the addition of a public railroad to the city.
Gallego said that the railroad, or passenger railway, would make long-distance travel easier for both locals and visitors.
“An @Amtrak connection in Phoenix would make long-distance travel easier for Phoenicians and bring more visitors. Let’s get it done!” said Gallego.
An @Amtrak connection in Phoenix would make long-distance travel easier for Phoenicians and bring more visitors. Let’s get it done! https://t.co/2NYqU7AuTN
The renewed calls for a public railway came after Gardner singled out Phoenix in recent public comments on his company’s intent to expand nationally. Gardner said it was an “embarrassment” that Phoenix doesn’t have his passenger railway company.
“(It is) frankly an embarrassment that we don’t serve such a major, prominent city,” said Gardner.
Amtrak applied for $716 million in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to launch 16 projects nationwide, including Phoenix. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) submitted a proposal to the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program (Corridor ID Program) to assist in the expansion. Additionally, ADOT provided $3.5 million.
Another proponent of the Amtrak expansion into Arizona, Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04), claimed that passenger railway would reduce the number of cars and therefore result in significant emissions reductions.
In a press release, Stanton also claimed that a public railway would provide an economic boost for the state.
“[It’s an] opportunity to connect our communities, make them more accessible and productive, and more internationally competitive,” said Stanton. “Opportunity to boost our regional economies with better access to jobs and more private investment along the route. Opportunity to ease congestion along Interstate 10 and help reduce air pollution.”
Likewise, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said Phoenix needed to join the other major cities in the country served by Amtrak.
“Phoenix is the largest city in the country not served by Amtrak, but thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re working to fix that,” said Kelly. “This support for the Return to Phoenix Project will finally bring together Arizona communities, the railroads, and Amtrak to develop a comprehensive plan to connect Phoenix and Tucson with passenger rail and connect Phoenix to Amtrak’s nationwide network.”
Public railway, like other forms of public transit, suffers from high crime rates. According to Amtrak police, there were around 6,000 incidents and over 456,400 calls for police assistance in 2021. That’s based on the latest National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data from the FBI.
That’s compared to about 5,000 incidents and 412,000 calls in 2020; around 6,700 incidents and 419,700 calls in 2019; around 6,100 incidents and 254,700 calls in 2018.
Amtrak has 30 routes consisting of 500 stops along 46 states. Based on their latest crime data report (2021), that’s about 12 incidents and 912 calls to Amtrak police at each stop annually.
In a press release on Monday, Amtrak explained that their applications were submitted through the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) programs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): the Corridor ID Program and the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program. The essential goal of the programs is to establish a comprehensive national passenger rail network.
