Steve Scalise returning to Washington as another Mayorkas impeachment vote expected
Washington — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise will return to Washington next week after completing cancer treatment, giving Republicans another vote in their attempt to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Scalise's office said in a statement Thursday that he "successfully completed his autologous stem cell treatment and has been medically cleared to resume travel." The Louisiana Republican is in "complete remission," the statement said.
His return could give House Republicans enough votes to impeach Mayorkas after an embarrassing defeat Tuesday, when a small group of Republicans helped sink the GOP-led effort.
All Democrats were in attendance after Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, was wheeled into the vote wearing hospital scrubs after emergency surgery. Republicans would have had enough votes to overcome the GOP defections had Scalise been present.
Republicans indicated another vote would take place on the impeachment articles once Scalise returned to work.
Scalise announced in August that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a "very treatable" blood cancer. He said in early January that he had completed chemotherapy and would undergo a stem cell transplant before returning to Washington sometime in February.