Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher, one of three members of the House of Representatives who voted against the firing of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week, has announced that he will not seek re-election.
“Eight years ago, when I first ran for Congress, I promised to treat my time in office as a high-intensity deployment,” Gallagher, who will retire in January 2025 after his fourth term, said in a statement Saturday.
“Through my bipartisan work on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, we have accomplished more in this deployment than I ever imagined,” he said.
“But the Framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives. Electoral politics should not be a career and, believe me, Congress is not a place to grow old,” the representative said.
Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher announced on Saturday that he will not seek re-election and will retire from Congress at the end of his fourth term in January 2025. REUTERS Gallagher was one of three members of the State Assembly who voted against the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for impeachment failed to enforce federal immigration laws and lied to Congress. AP
“So, with a heavy heart, I have decided not to run for re-election,” Gallagher said. “Thank you to the good people of Northeast Wisconsin for the honor of a lifetime.
“Four terms serving you has strengthened my conviction that America is the greatest country in the history of the world. And while my title may change, my mission will always be the same: to stop America’s enemies and defend the Constitution.”
Gallagher informed House Republican leadership weeks earlier that he would vote against the impeachment resolution they rejected — and defended his decision in a Wall Street Journal op-ed the day after it failed.
“An impeachment will not only fail to resolve Mr. Biden’s border crisis but will also set a dangerous new precedent that will be used against future Republican administrations,” he wrote.
“Last night was a setback, but democracy is a mess,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters about the failed impeachment vote. “We will approve the article of impeachment. We will do it in the next round.” AP
“The person most responsible for the chaos and destruction at the border is Mr. Biden, not Mr. Mayorkas,” Gallagher said. “If Mr. Mayorkas is removed, his successor will also implement Mr. Biden’s disastrous border policies.”
He also told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview that he did not choose to retire based on the backlash from his impeachment vote.
Gallagher joins Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Rep. Retiring Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) is voting on Feb. 6 against two articles of impeachment for Mayorkas for allegedly failing to enforce federal immigration laws and lying to Congress about the US border being “secure.”
With Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) absent while undergoing treatment for blood cancer, House Republicans were only able to lose three votes and still fire President Biden’s chief border enforcement officer. Reuters
With Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) absent while undergoing treatment for blood cancer, House Republicans were only able to lose three votes and still fire President Biden’s chief border enforcement officer.
The majority calculation also depends on the absence of Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who has been away from Congress as well while he recovers from colon surgery.
But as the clock ticked down, Green appeared in a wheelchair on the House floor to oppose the impeachment. The measure ultimately failed in a 214-216 vote.
Gallagher joins Rep. Retiring Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) voted on Feb. 6 against two articles of impeachment for Mayorkas. Getty Images
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and others unsuccessfully tried to pressure Gallagher to reverse his vote, forcing GOP conference Vice Chairman Blake Moore (R-Utah) to change his vote and join the majority so he could offer a motion to bring the resolution back forward at a later date.
House GOPers are expected to take up their impeachment measures again on Tuesday.
“Last night was a setback, but democracy is a mess,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters the day after last week’s vote. “We live in an age of divided governments. We have a slim margin here, and every vote counts.”
“Sometimes when you count votes and people show up when they’re not expected to be in the building, that changes the equation,” he added, referring to Green’s appearance. “We will approve the article of prosecution. We will do it in the next round.”
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) also voted against Mayorkas’ dismissal. Reuters
On Sunday, Mayorkas said on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” that neither he nor President Biden bear “responsibility for the broken system” that has allowed the flood of immigrants, though he acknowledged the situation at the border is a “crisis.”
Biden and the Homeland Security secretary had urged House Republicans to pass a bipartisan Senate border bill, with additional aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but it was voted down in the upper chamber last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Scalise’s office released a statement Thursday announcing the majority leader is “in complete remission” from cancer after “successfully completing his autologous stem cell treatment” and will “return to Washington next week for a vote.”
Gallagher serves on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and the Armed Services Committee and is chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Getty Images
With Scalise’s return, House Republicans must also prevent members who were on the fence about Mayorkas’ impeachment from reversing their votes, including Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.).
Gallagher serves on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and the Armed Services Committee and is chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
He briefly considered challenging Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin for her seat in Congress last year but decided against it, citing the work of his China committee and saying he intends to seek a fifth term in the House.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), another member of the China panel, is being considered by House GOP leaders to replace Gallagher as chairman if the party retains its majority, sources told The Post.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
