House votes to prohibit DHS money from funding Mayorkas salary
House Republicans on Wednesday approved a measure that would prohibit money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from funding the salary of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the latest example of GOP lawmakers targeting the embattled Cabinet head.
The House cleared an amendment — led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — to the DHS appropriations bill for fiscal 2025 that would prevent funding allocated in the legislation from being used to pay Mayorkas's salary.
The DHS appropriations bill, to be sure, has no chance of becoming law in its current form — including with the Mayorkas amendment — amid opposition from Senate Democrats and the White House. Republicans have nonetheless sought to include their priorities in the legislation to put themselves on stronger footing for government funding negotiations with the Senate down the road.
The push to slash Mayorkas's salary comes after the House voted to impeach the DHS secretary in February, making him the first Cabinet official to be penalized since the 1870s. The Senate then dismissed the pair of articles in April.
The vote on Biggs's Mayorkas amendment was largely along party lines, 193-173, with 72 lawmakers not voting. Just one Republican — Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón — voted “no.”
"Alejandro Mayorkas—who was impeached earlier this year—doesn't deserve a single penny from American taxpayers," Biggs wrote on the social platform X following the vote.
While Biggs's amendment was successful, a similar measure led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) faced defeat Wednesday afternoon.
The House voted down Greene's amendment that called for decreasing Mayorkas's salary to $1. The measure utilizes the Holman rule, which allows lawmakers to reduce the salaries of specific federal employees in appropriations bills.
The chamber rejected Greene's measure in a largely party-line 200-208-1 vote. Republican Reps. Larry Bucshon (Ind.), Zach Nunn (Iowa) and Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.) joined Democrats in voting "no," in addition to González-Colón and Amata Coleman Radewagen, a delegate from American Samoa. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) voted "present."
Greene called out the GOP opponents in a post on X following the vote.
"My amendment would have effectively FIRED Secretary Mayorkas by reducing his salary to $1. These 'Republicans' voted to KILL the amendment and keep paying Mayorkas AFTER we impeached him," she wrote. "@RepMariaSalazar from Florida apparently thinks Mayorkas is doing a great job. @ZachNunn from Iowa thinks Mayorkas should get paid for the invasion at the Southern border. And retiring @RepLarryBucshon from Indiana wants Mayorkas to keep his job."
House Republicans have sought to use the Holman Rule to reduce the salaries of several Biden administration officials they oppose. Greene, for example, introduced an amendment for the fiscal 2025 Department of Defense appropriations bill that would decrease Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's salary to $1. House Republicans approved a similar amendment in one of their appropriations bills last year, but it was not enacted.
House Republicans reinstated the Holman rule as part of their rules package last January after Democrats got rid of the regulation in 2019 when they held the majority in the House.