Al Green leaves the hospital to vote against the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas
Al Green stunned members of the House by wheeling a wheelchair into the chamber and donning scrubs from the hospital.
The 76-year-old’s journey from the ER, where he was undergoing abdominal surgery, turned out to be crucial.
With a final vote of 216-214, House Republicans were eventually unable to remove Alejandro Mayorkas from office.
Republicans point the finger at Mr. Mayorkas for the historic increase in illegal immigration at the US southern border.
Mr. Green, a member of the House representing Texas’ 9th district since 2005, requested his physicians if he may briefly leave the hospital in order to vote. Later, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Minority Leader, made arrangements for his transportation.
An attending physician checked Mr. Green’s vitals once he arrived at the Capitol.
For Republicans who were counting the votes to pass the bill, Mr. Green’s wheelchair-accessed entrance into the House floor came as a surprise. After that, he cast the tie vote, which sparked protests and Democratic shouts of “order.”
However, several politicians had anticipated Mr. Green’s arrival. “It was hardly a surprise,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark told CNN.
It is “not easy” for Mr. Green to leave the emergency department following surgery, he told NBC News.
However, he declared, “I had to be here.”
Following the vote, the veteran congressman from Texas emphasized this point of view in an interview with the New York Times from his hospital bed.
He claimed he was resolved to vote but had not realized the House would be split so sharply over the impeachment.
“I did not come here thinking that my vote would count,” Mr. Green remarked. “I came because it involved me personally.”
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia started the impeachment process, and following the vote, she declared she would attempt another.
She also said that Democrats were engaging in a “game” because they had withheld earlier information about Mr. Green’s intention to vote despite his hospital stay.
After the voting, she told reporters, “They hid one of their members, waiting till the last minute, watching to see our votes, attempting to throw us off.”
Along with House Democrats, three Republican defectors also cast “no” votes. As a procedural maneuver, the fourth voter, Blake Moore of Utah, changed his vote from yes to no.
