STUNNING DEFEATS
Congress was in chaos yesterday as two initiatives related to immigration fell apart, as well as an effort to fund Israel.
First, Republicans failed to advance two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Republicans have long accused Mayorkas of worsening the situation at the border by intentionally ignoring the law for partisan or philosophical reasons.
After years of failed efforts to impeach the DHS chief, a resolution to that end was finally brought to the floor yesterday. It was defeated by a vote of 214–216.
Three Republicans, Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) voted against the measure. Another Republican, House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Blake Moore (R-Utah) also flipped his vote to no for purely procedural reasons—to allow the measure to be voted on the floor at a later date.
The outcome was due in part to the absence of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who was out for cancer treatment.
Speaking to reporters after the failed vote, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) vowed to bring it to the floor again when Scalise is back.
“This is not over yet,” she told reporters on the steps of the Capitol after the vote.
Greene and other Republicans were livid at the package’s failure.
“Everyone who voted against impeaching Mayorkas owns everything that happens as a result of our wide open border—every rape, every murder, every drug overdose, everything,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote in a post on X.
In another blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), a standalone Israel aid package failed to pass on the House floor shortly after the Mayorkas impeachment flop.
The final tally was 250–180, therefore, it did not get the two-thirds majority needed for passage as the bill was brought under an expedited procedural move.
There were 203 Republicans and 46 Democrats who voted for the measure, while there were 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans who voted against it.
Even if it had passed, the measure would have faced an uncertain future in the Democrat-controlled Senate as it was already opposed by President Joe Biden, who said in a Feb. 5 statement that he would veto the bill.
Meanwhile in the Senate, the prospects for a national security and border bill now appear to be basically dead.
The $118 billion bill, including funding for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the U.S. border with Mexico, collapsed spectacularly less than 48 hours after its unveiling after Republicans started jumping ship on the proposal.
On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who until then supported the package, reportedly pulled his support.
McConnell confirmed the reports during a Tuesday press conference.
“Most of our members feel that we’re not going to be able to make a law here,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are also strongly opposed to the package. Speaker Johnson has vowed it won’t even get a floor vote.
Still, the package is set for a procedural vote in the Senate today. With Republicans lining up to oppose it, it’s almost certain to fail.
The next question is whether the Senate will bring up a package for Ukraine and Israel aid and Indo-Pacific partners, without the border measures. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has not indicated either way.
—Joseph Lord
HALEY LOSES TO ‘NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES’
LAS VEGAS–In one of the strangest elections in recent times, candidate Nikki Haley technically lost to “None of Those Candidates” in Nevada’s Republican primary, an unsanctioned contest that did not feature Donald Trump.
The race was called at 12:01 a.m. Eastern. “None of These Candidates” won 61 percent to Haley’s 32 percent, with 53 percent reporting.
Haley’s embarrassing setback in the Silver State will have no real effect on the rest of the race—given that no delegates will be awarded—other than providing additional fodder for campaign rhetoric.
The Feb. 8 GOP caucus, in which Trump is participating, is the only contest that counts; it will award delegates to the winner at the Republican Party’s national convention this summer.
Candidates were required to choose between the two options, but voters were allowed to vote in both contests.
The state GOP enacted those rules in defiance of the state-mandated primary that Democrat-dominant lawmakers approved.
Some Nevada Republicans told The Epoch Times they were rooting for “None” to get more votes than Haley because they resented her for ignoring their state and eschewing the caucus.
But Haley’s campaign said she had valid reasons for doing so; her campaign officials alleged that the caucus would unfairly tip the scales toward President Trump–a claim that GOP leaders disputed.
Democrats held a separate primary, which the incumbent, President Joe Biden, easily won.
—Janice Hisle
ARIZONA SEEKS TO COMBAT FORCED ORGAN HARVESTING
After Texas banned medical insurance funding transplants connected to forced organ harvesting, Arizona wants to do the same.
The goal? To discourage Arizona residents from “inadvertently” contributing to forced organ harvesting through transplant tourism.
“The Chinese Communist Party is relying on your fear of death to make money,” Dr. Dana Churchill, a West Coast delegate for the nonprofit Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, told reporters.
DAFOH has recently been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for spotlighting the “horrors of forced organ harvesting” in China.
Forced organ harvesting has been seen as one aspect of Beijing’s persecution of Falun Gong, which had an estimated up to 100 million adherents in the late 1990s.
Crystal Chen, a Falun Gong practitioner now living in Houston, Texas, said she was jailed multiple times, severely tortured, and subjected to daily medical tests.
“These tests were not done for our well-being,” she said. “Had my blood type and tissue type been a match for [an] organ recipient, I would not be here today.”
Diana Molovinsky, a member of the Phoenix Falun Dafa Association, stressed the lack of anesthesia in the forced organ harvesting procedure.
“They’re lined up like cattle” and chosen based on whether there is an organ match, Ms. Molovinsky told The Epoch Times. “I think the act in itself is so mortifying; even if there was one person who went over there did it, that would be enough to say this shouldn’t happen.”
—Allan Stein
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Biden attends campaign fundraisers in New York.
- House Democrats start their annual policy retreat in Leesburg, Virginia.
- Senate holds a cloture vote on the Ukraine-border bill.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill declaring that Trump “did not engage in an insurrection” on and before Jan. 6, 2021, The Epoch Times’ Catherine Yang reported. The measure has the backing of 63 Republicans, and companion legislation has been released in the Senate by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
With the GOP’s presidential field narrowing, Trump’s legal battles are picking up. The Epoch Times’ Sam Dorman covered the increasing legal battles, and how they could shape the 2024 presidential race.
The U.N. says that melting ice in the Arctic is a key indicator of climate change. But there’s a problem with that model, The Epoch Times’ Katie Spence reported: practically no ice in the Arctic has melted.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could be planning to step down from her post, The New York Times reported. McDaniel has served as the RNC chief since January 2017.
Communist China hacked into and maintained access to the Netherlands’ defense network, The Epoch Times’ Andrew Thornebrooke reported. The findings were disclosed in a Dutch intelligence report.
