The Excerpt podcast: House Republicans move forward to impeach Mayorkas

On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: House Republicans move toward impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison discusses President Joe Biden's shift to the right on immigration. What happens to your student loan debt when you drop out? It'll probably get bigger. USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning talks about Americans in Ecuador during a recent and ongoing crisis there. An atmospheric river soaks California.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Wednesday, January 31st 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, Republicans in the House close in on impeaching the Homeland Security Secretary. Plus how President Joe Biden is moving to the right on immigration. And what a crisis in Ecuador means for American retirees living abroad.

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House Republicans are taking their final steps toward impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, preparing a formal vote targeting a cabinet secretary for the first time in almost 150 years. During a fiery hearing yesterday, the GOP-led House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. They accuse him of a willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and a breach of public trust over his handling of the nation's southern border. The impeachment push comes as lawmakers continue to wrangle over new border legislation. House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that a Senate bipartisan border and immigration deal is likely dead on arrival in the House. He said the Democratic controlled Senate should take up the House's hard line border and migrant policy bill, passed last year, referred to as H.R. 2, but that bill has long been considered to have no chance of passing the Senate. You can follow along with the latest on usatoday.com.

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President Joe Biden's push for a bipartisan border deal marks a major shift to the right on border and immigration politics. I caught up with USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison to discuss. Joey, thanks for hopping on.

Joey Garrison:

Hey, thanks for having me Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

So Joey, president Joe Biden said he will shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed using a new presidential authority. He made those comments as he urges Congress to pass new border legislation. Joey, what exactly did Biden mean by these comments and what's the legislation he's pushing for?

Joey Garrison:

He's pushing for a bipartisan border deal in Congress that would also include security funding for both Israel and Ukraine. And really he's conceded on a lot of issues on the border front on this and really speaking about this issue in ways we traditionally think about Republicans talking about it. And so, we don't have a final draft of a bill that's being negotiated in the Senate. But under what we've learned, that senators are discussing, if migrant border crossings were to surpass an average of 5,000 a day, the administration would be required to close the border to migrants crossing illegally and all ports of entry. If that level were exceeded 4,000 daily encounters of migrants over a one-week period, then the administration would be granted the power to shut down the border. So what he wants is approval of this in Congress, then he would have the ability to address what he's now calling a border crisis, given the surge in migrants we've seen at the border over the last year.

Taylor Wilson:

Joey, it is an election year of course. What's the border election calculus look like for President Joe Biden and GOP front-runner Donald Trump, as we move deeper into 2024? And also Joey, how big of a factor is the election playing in Biden's shift to the right on immigration?

Joey Garrison:

Republicans have hammered Biden throughout his presidency on the surge of migrants we've seen at the borders. This is a chance for President Biden to say, "Hey look, I'm trying to do something, but house Republicans, they stood in the way of action and not just these Republicans, but it's Republicans who are getting the advice directly from my opponent, former President Donald Trump." So that is a dynamic that Biden is setting up here. Now how do we get to this point where we are seen Biden now using this language of "shut down the border?" That is something actually Trump said from time to time during his four years in office.

Well, there's a couple of things going on there. You have, first of all, just this daily increase in migrants that we've seen, which it's just been an issue that the White House has stumbled over and not been able to effectively message what they're trying to do to address it. And part of this is led by Republican governors who have been sending over migrants to Democratic run cities. You've had Democratic mayors at major cities who have started to voice concerns about their ability to expend the resources to handle their influx of migrants there.

This crisis that we have seen at the border has really prevented what Biden might've liked to do on immigration when he entered the White House and what the reality is right now. The whole debate has shifted to the right. About a decade ago, the debate in Congress was over finding a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants here in the U.S. That's not on the board now. Now we're talking border enforcement. So, it is centered predominantly on 2024 politics, but also what the last year on the ground does look like and how this immigration or border crisis has really put the White House in a corner.

Taylor Wilson:

And Joey, I'm curious how Americans across the board are feeling about the southern border and immigration right now. Is there broad support for this bill that we've been talking about? What do supporters and critics say here?

Joey Garrison:

Generally speaking, if you were to ask the average voter, is they would say, "We want to see Washington work and to approve something to address the border." It's something that's been talked about mainly by Republicans, but also discussed by Democrats. And I think that's the bet that President Biden's making too, is that; "Here I am working with Republicans, finding something that not necessarily would've been my first choice of policy, but I'm willing to move towards the middle, further to the right on this, but I can't get help from Republicans." I think he's making the bet that independent voters especially won't like to see that resistance if we are this close to real bipartisan action on this issue.

Taylor Wilson:

Joey Garrison, covers the White House for USA TODAY. Thank you Joey.

Joey Garrison:

Hey, thanks.

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Taylor Wilson:

Student loan debt for more than a million college dropouts grew by nearly a billion dollars in recent years, according to a new report, findings were published by the Higher Education Advisory Group and commissioned by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. According to the report, college students who took out loans between 2013 and 2015, but never finished their degrees, collectively owed $918 million more than they first borrowed. That number was tallied four years after they started paying back their loans. For college graduates, it was a much different story. Students who took out loans during the same period, but went on to complete their degrees collectively owed some $3 billion less than they first borrowed. You can read more with the link in today's show notes.

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More Americans are retiring abroad and some have found affordability and a unique life in Ecuador. But what happens when crisis hits? I spoke with USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning for more.

Chris, thanks for making the time today.

Chris Kenning:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Chris, let's just start here for folks who maybe aren't aware, what's happened in Ecuador in recent month? Why are tensions brewing there?

Chris Kenning:

Ecuador in recent years has started to see crime and violence rise as drug trafficking organizations have increasingly used it as a shipment point for cocaine. They're right next to Peru and Columbia, which are some of the larger producers, and that's led to conflicts between drug gangs. Crime and murder rates have soared. Killings and kidnappings and robberies and other criminal activities like that have increased. Last fall, a presidential candidate was assassinated and then in early January, the violence really spiked after the prison escape of one of Ecuador's most powerful drug gang's leaders. There was a lot of violence that followed. There was rioting in prisons, some guards taken hostages. There were shootings and bombings in several places around the country. And then it really gained headlines when masked gunman stormed a Guayaquil TV studio during a live news broadcast. The President there declared a state of national emergency and mobilized the military, saying that the country had entered an internal armed conflict that he vowed to win.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, that incident on the news broadcast in particular, Chris, was just astonishing to see. You spoke with U.S. Expats who live in Ecuador. I'm curious, why did they go to Ecuador in the first place and what do they say about their experiences during all of this?

Chris Kenning:

By one estimate, there's upwards of 20,000 English-speaking expats in Ecuador, and among them are many U.S. retirees. The numbers of U.S. retirees that retire abroad have more than doubled between 1999 and 2022 to around a half million. And Ecuador has long been touted as one of Latin America's safest and most affordable destinations for these folks. But the recent crisis has really highlighted some of the uncertainties that can come into play.

The retirees that I spoke with, they live along the coast or in Cuenca, which is Ecuador's third-largest city, it's a historic city up in the mountains, and they say the violence is a lot more localized than it appears from international news headlines, and it's not having a huge impact on the places they live. There is a curfew, but residents are able to go out and they say go to the market. And in the places where they are, they feel safe. The U.S. State Department has issued warnings that vary depending on where you are in Ecuador, but not everyone's unaffected. A lot of people are having to take new safety measures, like not taking public buses, or not going out after dark. One woman I spoke to said that a few months ago, she narrowly escaped an attempted carjacking.

Taylor Wilson:

Wow. And so, are these folks going to leave Ecuador? Going to head back to the States? Go to another country? Or did they plan on sticking it out for the time being?

Chris Kenning:

Most of the folks I talked to, including some of the folks who help retirees find property there or get visas say, at this point, there's no signs of a major exodus, because of some of the factors we talked about before. A lot are planning to stay and taking a wait and see attitude. A lot of them told me they feel a kinship with their adopted country and they have high hopes that they'll be able to get the problem in check. I spoke with an Ecuadorian woman who runs a visa agency and she said a few of her clients have delayed planned moves that they were going to undertake in the future and have put them on pause, but most are continuing to consider it and residents are renewing visas. Some people have U.S. homes, they can come and spend a few months, take a break and see how things play out. Others do not. One retiree I spoke to said they're just keeping a very close eye on events and trying not to overreact and trying not to underreact.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Chris Kenning is a National Correspondent for USA TODAY. Interesting story, Chris. Thanks for hopping on and discussing it.

Chris Kenning:

Thank you so much.

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Taylor Wilson:

A pair of storms is set to slam California over the next few days, bringing a mix of rain, snow, and wind. Both storms will be fueled by atmospheric rivers, plumes of tropical moisture that can bring a fire hose of rain. This type of atmospheric river is sometimes called the Pineapple Express, because it originates near Hawaii, according to weather.com. One storm is expected to arrive today with another by Sunday. Some higher elevations in the mountains could see up to four feet of snow according to the National Weather Service, and there are flood watches in place for parts of central and northern California. As for the Golden State cities, San Francisco and Sacramento will see downpours today, while Los Angeles and San Diego, will see the heaviest rain tomorrow.

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Whether you're in the California storms, the snowy Midwest or elsewhere, grab a hot beverage. It's National Hot Chocolate Day. And before we go, be sure to stay tuned later today for a special episode taking a look at how humor is helping Ukraine in their fight against Russia. You can find the episode right here on this feed after 4:00 PM Eastern Time. Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back with more of The Excerpt tomorrow from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Excerpt podcast: House GOP move forward to impeach Mayorkas