Saturday, July 12, 2025
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Saturday, July 12, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

Mike Gallagher Mayorkas Impeachment

Wisconsin’s Mike Gallagher Helps Sink Mayorkas Impeachment

By Jim Piwowarczyk
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Wisconsin Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher was one of three Republicans who joined with Democrats on Tuesday to sink the impeachment of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Social media has lit up with criticism of the three Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas as illegal immigrants continue to enter the country en masse. House Republican leaders wanted to impeach Mayorkas because he was refusing to uphold the rule of law at the border. According to the Hill, as a result of the three no votes, the House impeachment effort failed in an “embarrassing fashion.”

The vote ended up being 214-216. CNN called the vote a “stunning defeat” for Republican leadership. The other Republicans in the Wisconsin delegation voted to impeach Mayorkas.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s spokesman wrote on X “House Republicans fully intend to bring Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas back to the floor when we have the votes for passage.” According to the Hill, Johnson hopes to get the vote of Republican Steve Scalise who was absent due to cancer treatments. That will put Gallagher, of Green Bay, back on the hot seat.

A fourth Republican, Utah Rep. Blake Moore, changed his vote to no, but, according to Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green, “Blake Moore changed his vote no when asked by leadership for procedural reasons to make a motion to reconsider so that we can vote on impeachment again next week. We look forward to Leader Steve Scalise returning to vote yes and officially impeaching Secretary Mayorkas.”

Thus, some critics are focusing their outrage only on Gallagher and Republican Reps. Tom McClintock and Ken Buck, not Moore. According to the Hill, the no votes of McClintock and Buck were expected, but Gallagher’s came as a surprise.

Gallagher tried to explain his decision in a statement. “Secretary Mayorkas has faithfully implemented President Biden’s open border policies and helped create the dangerous crisis at the southern border,” Gallagher said. “But the proponents of impeachment failed to make the argument as to how his stunning incompetence meets the impeachment threshold Republicans outlined while defending former President Trump.”

He wrote that voting to impeach Mayorkas would “only further pry open the Pandora’s box of perpetual impeachment.”

Republican Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden voted to impeach Mayorkas.

“We are experiencing the worst border crisis in history under President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas,” Van Orden said in a statement.

“The disregard for the safety and security of the United States, as well as the refusal to uphold the rule of law, is appalling. With over 7 million illegal crossings at the southern border and 1.7 million gotaways evading U.S. Border Patrol since the Biden administration took office, Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and systemically refused to comply with federal immigration laws and has breached the public trust by violating his oath of duty to control and guard the border. The most egregious example of this is Secretary Mayorkas instructing ICE and DHS personnel not to rely solely on the fact that the alien is residing in the country illegally or that they have criminal and terrorism-related convictions as grounds to take them into custody.”

Continued Van Orden: “The evidence presented is so compelling that Congress must exercise its constitutional duty to protect the American people. Border security is national security, and we cannot have someone who refuses to secure the southern border in charge of protecting our homeland. It was clearly past time to impeach Secretary Mayorkas.”

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who voted to impeach Mayorakas, said in a statement, “For the last three years, Secretary Mayorkas has willfully refused to enforce federal immigration laws, abused his parole authority, repeatedly lied to Congress, and unleashed millions of illegal aliens and deadly drugs into our communities.”

Said Tiffany: “His implementation of a mass catch-and-release scheme where illegals have been dumped into American neighborhoods with no court dates or monitoring is a danger to every American. I do not take an impeachment vote lightly, but it’s time to put the safety of our citizens first and hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for his failures.”

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2026 GOP Candidate Josh Schoemann Challenges Evers’ Budget Approach

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(The Center Square) – Josh Schoemann, the only Republican currently in the race for governor next year, is criticizing Gov. Tony Evers’ approach to the next state budget by comparing it to his plans in Washington County.

“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

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Wisconsin Budget Negotiations Reach Impasse Between Evers, Legislature

The Center Square -

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin budget negotiations have reached an impasse with both sides pointing fingers at the other in Wednesday afternoon statements.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Republican Legislative leaders backed out of negotiations after he agreed to “an income tax cut targeting Wisconsin’s middle-class and working families and eliminating income taxes for certain retirees.” He said Republican leaders would not agree to “meaningful increased investments in child care, K-12 schools, and the University of Wisconsin System.”

Republican Assembly leaders said the two sides were "far apart. Senate leaders say Evers’ desires “extend beyond what taxpayers can afford.”

“The Joint Committee on Finance will continue using our long-established practices of crafting a state budget that contains meaningful tax relief and responsible spending levels with the goal of finishing on time,” said a statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Assembly Finance Co-Chairman Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam.

Evers said that there were meetings between the sides every day this week before the impasse.

“I told Republicans I’d support their half of the deal and their top tax priorities – even though they’re very similar to bills I previously vetoed – because I believe that’s how compromise is supposed to work, and I was ready to make that concession in order to get important things done for Wisconsin’s kids,” Evers said.

Senate Republican leadership said that good faith negotiations have occurred since April on a budget compromise.

“Both sides of these negotiations worked to find compromise and do what is best for the state of Wisconsin,” said a statement from Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Senate Joint Finance Co-Chairman Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green.

In early May, the Joint Committee on Finance took 612 items out of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal, including Medicaid expansion in the state, department creations and tax exemptions.

Born previously estimated that Evers’ budget proposal would lead to $3 billion in tax increases over the two-year span.

Wisconsin Policy Forum estimated that the proposal would spend down more than $4 billion of the state’s expected $4.3 billion surplus if it is enacted.

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