House Republicans kicked off their push to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday with a new proposed standard for recommending the ouster of a Cabinet official: “gross incompetence.”

Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee claim that surging migration on the U.S.-Mexico border shows Mayorkas is in “dereliction of duty,” pointing to record-high crossings in recent months. Democrats have dismissed their effort as a political attack that misuses a congressional tool designed to punish egregious behavior such as criminal activity — but the GOP made clear it sees Mayorkas’ management as meeting the standard.

“The constitutional history is overwhelmingly clear on this subject. The Founders designed impeachment not just to remove officials engaged in criminal behavior, but those guilty of such gross incompetence that their conduct had endangered their fellow Americans, betrayed the public trust, or represented a neglect of duty,” Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said.

The GOP’s move to impeach Mayorkas without evidence of criminal or other improper activity beyond its policy dispute with him is unprecedented. Republicans argue that Mayorkas is not upholding existing immigration laws, but Democrats counter that the entire affair is designed to appeal to their base in an election year.

“They know their already razor-thin majority is slipping away and think impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, even though there’s absolutely no basis for it, will keep them in control of the House,” said Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the committee.

While the authority to impeach Cabinet secretaries is clear in the constitution, it has only happened once before in the nation’s history; the House impeached Defense Secretary William Belknap in 1876 over bribery.

Wednesday’s hearing was the first of what is expected to be a series of impeachment proceedings in the panel. While Mayorkas has been invited to appear in an open hearing, he has not yet responded to the committee. It is not yet clear what specific charges the House GOP will bring, if or when articles of impeachment are eventually drafted.

The hearing featured top law enforcement officials from Missouri, Montana and Oklahoma, who testified about the impact that the situation at the border is having in their states. It came as Mayorkas remains actively involved in bipartisan Senate negotiations on border and migrant policy changes designed to shake loose a major foreign aid package that’s stalled on the Hill.

“Mayorkas is gearing up President Biden’s policies — that’s what a secretary is going to do,” top border negotiator Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told reporters. “So, you can swap secretaries. The policies are going to be exactly the same.”

Lankford’s stance, and his willingness to engage with Mayorkas on border policy, illustrates how little traction the House’s impeachment push has in the Senate. The upper chamber is unlikely to remove him from office, if or when the House ever formally votes to impeach. While a handful of Senate Republicans are cheering on the House GOP, more are wary and don’t want the topic landing on their plate.

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he’ll call former President Donald Trump to walk him through the details of a government funding framework announced over the weekend.

“I’m planning to give him a call today to talk him through the details of it,” Johnson told Hugh Hewitt on his radio show. “We are pedal to the metal trying to get those bills produced to get them on the floor to vote. And I’m very optimistic that we can get this done.”

Johnson said of Trump: “I’ll give him a read in on this.”

Speaking about Trump’s candidacy for the presidency in 2024, Johnson said, “I believe he will be the nominee, and I’m convinced he’s going to win the White House again. And that’ll be a great day for America.”

The speaker also expressed cautious optimism about Senate negotiations over border security policy, which have gone on for weeks without yet yielding a deal.

“We have yet to see the text of it,” he said. “And I’ll just say I’m cautiously optimistic, Hugh. We’ll have to see what develops.”

Johnson said he’d “communicated it directly” that the House could not support a border security deal that didn’t include funding for a border wall.

Former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones is raking in cash in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, raising $1 million last quarter, according to fundraising totals first provided to POLITICO.

It gives him a war chest of $1.55 million and more than $2 million raised in total heading into what’s likely to be one of the nation’s most competitive House elections. It also marks the second quarter in a row in which Jones outraised Lawler, Jones’ campaign said.

“I am thrilled to have raised more than $2.1 million in the off-year of this crucial race to take back the House, save our democracy from Donald Trump and his lackey Mike Lawler in Congress, lower costs, and protect the right to abortion,” Jones said in a statement. “The Lower Hudson Valley is ready for me to restore serious and effective representation in Congress, and our grassroots coalition is prepared to defeat Mike Lawler this year.”

Jones had represented parts of the district in the lower Hudson Valley before New York’s redistricting tumult last cycle pushed him to unsuccessfully run for a seat in New York City. This time, he’s largely cleared the primary field in the 17th District, with Democrat Liz Whitmer Gereghty dropping out of the race last November and backing Jones.

Lawler, a first-term lawmaker, had defeated Democrats’ campaign chief Sean Patrick Maloney to win the seat last cycle. But President Joe Biden won the seat by about ten points in 2020, making it especially competitive in a presidential election year.

Spending status report: Senate Republicans are resigned to the fact that they’ll need another stopgap measure to finalize spending bills, but some House Republicans are already balking.

Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) said he and others have made their message clear to Speaker Mike Johnson: “No short-term CRs. Either get the appropriation bills done or do a long-term CR.”

Johnson insisted in November that the short-term funding deal would be the last. But there’s not even a deal yet on subcommittee allocations.

Republicans expect to hear more from their leadership on the plan for funding the government at Wednesday morning’s GOP conference meeting.

Senators are stressing that they need time once there is a deal to get it through their own chamber.

“The simplest things take a week in the Senate,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “I think, frequently, the House doesn’t understand how long it takes to get something through the Senate.”

The next spending deadline is Jan. 19. Some, including Senate GOP Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), are talking about a stopgap until March. But spending cardinals on both sides of the Senate aisle hate that idea.

Investigation-mania: There’s a witching hour for GOP investigations and it’s 10 a.m. Wednesday. All happening at that hour:

House Judiciary Committee markup of a report recommending the House cite Hunter Biden for contempt of Congress.
House Oversight Committee markup of a resolution to recommend finding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a committee-issued subpoena.
House Homeland Security Committee hearing on “Havoc in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas’ Failed Leadership Has Impacted the States.”

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Gallery owner Georges Bergès told the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday that Hunter Biden knows the identities of the individuals “who purchased roughly 70% of the value of his art,” according to Oversight Republicans.

But that percent, a person familiar with the meeting cautioned, represents approximately three of the 10 buyers who purchased Hunter Biden artwork. Bergès, the individual added, told the committee he did not disclose the identity of any of the buyers to the president’s son, and did not say during the interview that Hunter Biden knew the identity before the sales.

Instead, the individual said, Bergès indicated Hunter Biden knew the identity of one buyer through public reporting and a second because he saw the artwork at the individual’s house. Bergès also confirmed entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris, who has reportedly lent the president’s son a significant amount of money, purchased Hunter Biden’s art for $875,000, according to committee Republicans.

During his meeting with lawmakers, Bergès also said he had no contact with the White House about Hunter Biden’s artwork, according to Republicans and the person familiar with the interview.

That disclosure could raise new questions regarding past reports by The Washington Post and others that White House officials helped craft the ethics agreement around Hunter Biden’s art work, which has drawn criticism from a former Obama ethics chief who argued it lacked transparency and urged Hunter Biden to cancel any sales.

But then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in August 2021 that “we have spoken extensively to the arrangements, which are not White House arrangements; they’re arrangements between Hunter Biden’s representatives and ones that we, certainly, were made aware of.”

Bergès spoke with committee members and staff behind closed doors after Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed him for a deposition late last year, as Republicans make Hunter Biden’s business arrangements a key part of their impeachment effort against President Joe Biden.

Republicans have not yet found clear evidence directly linking decisions made by Joe Biden as president or vice president to his son’s business deals. Bergès, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), “stated he had no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden.”

In addition to Bergès, House Republicans issued a subpoena last year to speak with Elizabeth Naftali, who bought Hunter Biden artwork.

An attorney for Naftali, in a letter to Comer last year, said that she purchased work by the president’s son “solely because she liked the art, and the prices were reasonable” adding that “never at any time did she have direct or indirect contact with anyone at the White House regarding any art purchased.”

Senate Republicans tangled on Tuesday over how far to push their border security priorities, with conservatives raising the idea of conditioning money for Ukraine on the United States meeting certain border security metrics, according to attendees of a conference lunch.

Negotiations linking immigration restrictions and foreign aid are mostly focused on policy changes that can earn bipartisan support, rather than restricting additional cash to Ukraine until the federal government meets certain migration metrics. The idea was rejected in those talks because a significant number of Republicans do not support that proposal, which could make it more difficult to get money to Ukraine in a timely fashion.

“I’ve been pushing for some forcing mechanism, though, like making Ukraine funding contingent on actually securing the border. That apparently was rejected,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) after the meeting. “It would have had a lot of support in our conference.”

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican in those negotiations, argued adding that provision would cost GOP votes and divide the conference. He said it was not Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s idea to shelve the proposal, according to an attendee and a person briefed on the meeting.

Still, in the interview afterward, Johnson said McConnell had “apparently” rejected his idea and “made that decision for all of us.” Other conservative senators, including Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), support that proposal.

How to enforce new border restrictions is one of the major sticking points in the negotiations and Republicans are divided over how far to go to get a deal with Democrats. Some conservatives will almost certainly oppose any agreement, arguing it wouldn’t go far enough to stop migrants from crossing the border. And Democrats are resisting changes to presidential parole authority, arguing it’s a crucial tool for the administration to manage the flow of migrants at the southern border.

Johnson said Republicans are also discussing a provision that would shut down the border when daily crossings exceed a certain number, though he questioned how enforceable such a policy would be. He said that making Ukraine’s money contingent on border crossing metrics is “about as good as we can do.”

“If you can get that. I mean, I’ll not only vote for it, I’ll promote the bill. I’m somewhat skeptical on Ukraine funding but sure, I want to support the freedom-loving people of Ukraine. I’d pay $60 billion to secure the border,” Johnson added.

Lankford and McConnell are trying to figure out what sort of compromise can draw not only significant Senate GOP votes but also support from House Republicans. As Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) put it: “It doesn’t have to satisfy Ron Johnson, but it has to satisfy more Republicans.” He said he hoped 20 or 30 Senate Republicans will be able to endorse a deal.

Republicans say they won’t provide Ukraine with more funding without strict new border and immigration restrictions. That position created months of discussions led by Lankford and Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday he’s been in contact with Murphy, Sinema and the administration as much as “five, six, seven times a day.” Murphy spoke alongside Schumer at Senate Democrats’ weekly press conference, telling reporters he briefed his colleagues on the “basics” of where negotiations stand.

But while Murphy and his fellow negotiators have largely shied away from detailing individual policy area disagreements in border talks, he specifically addressed presidential parole authority, which remains a major point of friction.

“We are not interested in taking away from the administration tools they use today to help better manage the border,” Murphy said. “And so when we talk about this topic of parole, it is very important to understand that it is used today as a way that the administration is able to better manage the flow” of migrants.

Murphy did not forecast an immediate resolution to hold ups — but said “we are where we are” and that negotiators are “trying our best to get an agreement that gives the administration new tools to be able to better manage the border while living up to basic fundamental American values.”

Anthony Adragna contributed to this report.

The Senate axed a planned procedural vote on the nomination of José Javier Rodríguez, a former member of the Florida state Senate, for a senior Labor Department position.

It’s not the first time Rodríguez has seen trouble. His nomination previously failed to clear a procedural vote in late November by a 44-51 vote on the floor. All Republicans voted against him, in addition to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.). There were also several Democratic absences.

A spokesperson for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Twelve senators missed the first vote of the week on Monday evening.

Sen. Bob Menendez addressed the multiple indictments against him in a Tuesday floor speech, claiming the government has conspired against him to poison public opinion and a potential jury pool.

Menendez (D-N.J.) has maintained his innocence in all of the indictments against him, the latest of which alleges he acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Qatar. While the majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus has called on Menendez to step down, he has refused and instead left the door open to a reelection bid.

“Why did the government not proceed with all of these accusations from the beginning? The answer is clear to me,” Menendez said. “By filing three indictments — one in late September, a second one a few weeks later in mid-October and a third one last week in early January — it allows the government to keep the sensational story in the press and seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion.”

Menendez also forecasted his case will go to trial, saying there is “no evidence of the giving or receiving of cash or gold bars” and that there will “be at trial a full explanation of what is the truth about those issues.”

The New Jersey Democrat claimed proving his innocence is a matter of precedent-setting in the Senate, noting the allegations against him have “never ever been levied against a sitting members of Congress — never — and for good reason.”

“It opens a dangerous door for the Justice Department to take the normal engagement of members of Congress with a foreign government and to transform those engagements into a charge of being a foreign agent,” Menendez said.

While Menendez has been politically shirked by many of his colleagues, he has continued to weigh in on certain policy subjects, including the latest border negotiations. He has not giving any timing for when he will decide whether or not to run for reelection. Multiple primary challengers have already come out against him, including Rep. Andy Kim and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy.

“I’m innocent and I intend to prove my innocence,” Menendez said.