“To ensure that the Senate has sufficient time to carry out its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week,” a Johnson spokesperson said. “There is no reason for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial.”
The statement was released after Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) thanked Johnson at a news conference for moving the start of the impeachment trial to “the beginning of a legislative week rather than toward the end “.
“We don’t want this to happen on the eve of when members might be operating under the influence of jet fuel poisoning,” Lee explained.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is expected to propose or reject the articles — said Tuesday that regardless of the delay, Democrats would stick to their original plan. HAS dismiss or postpone the trial, a simple a majority is required, meaning Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority, have little to no margin for error. At least one Republican – Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) – has said he plans to vote against a full trial.
Schumer said the accusations were “absurd” and did not meet the standards for an indictment and suggested he would try to end the trial before it actually begins. “We will move forward and resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Once again, impeachment should never be used to resolve political disagreements.”
“We’re ready to go when they are,” Schumer told reporters. “We are sticking to our plan. We will proceed as quickly as possible. »
The articles of impeachment were expected to arrive in the Senate on the same day Mayorkas will be on the Hill to argue for the DHS budget, where he is expected to seek higher funding levels than in the House deal reached last month Blanche and Congress want to avoid a government shutdown. The deal provides less funding than the bipartisan border deal that collapsed in February after Republicans scuttled efforts to fix the immigration system. at the request of the former president and alleged Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
House Republicans reportedly delivered the articles to the Senate against the backdrop of testimony from a DHS chief who helped craft the bipartisan bill that would have allocated $20 billion in emergency funding to the border security and immigration – and has previously deplored the agency as a “permanent body”. financially starved department.”
Both The articles of impeachment accusing the Mayorkas of “deliberate and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and abuse of the public trust have been hotly contested by Democrats, constitutional experts and a handful of Republican lawmakers who argue that the charges were narrowly adopted by House Republicans. vote earlier this year do not constitute serious crimes but rather political differences.
House Republicans argued that Mayorkas — who has broad discretion in enforcing border laws — violated provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which mandates the detention of any migrant deportable. They claim a 2021 memo signed by Mayorkas directing immigration officials to take a different approach to prioritizing people who should be detained in the United States – given limited detention facilities and massive backlog immigration courts – is contrary to the language of the law. Led by Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican lawmakers also accuse Mayorkas of acting outside his authority to increase the number of humanitarian parole programs available to migrants. These programs allow noncitizens to live and work temporarily and legally in the United States.
House Republican impeachment managers, who are expected to deliver the charges to the Senate after a ceremonial march through the Capitol, include Green, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Michael McCaul (Tex.), Andy Biggs ( Arizona). , August Pfluger (Tex.), Ben Cline (Va.), Andrew R. Garbarino (NY), Michael Guest (Miss.), Harriet Hageman (Wyo.), Clay Higgins (La.) and Laurel Lee (Fla.).
Senators must take the oath as a group, raising their right hand like Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) – chosen to preside over the trial – reads aloud the oath in which he promises to render “impartial justice” in this matter. Then, each senator must sign the oath book in front of the chamber in groups of four. Democrats plan to move quickly to dismiss or postpone the trial soon after that process, a maneuver that would require 51 votes to pass.
“There may be attempts to delay it. But we hope we can resolve these delays and give this impeachment the dismissal it so richly deserves,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut).
Efforts to prolong the trial, and potentially force Democrats to vote forcefully, now have a better chance of coming to fruition without senators rushing to catch their flights home.
Several Republicans argued Tuesday that Democrats should not deviate from precedent by skipping a trial and moving to dismiss the charges. They intend to at least try to influence the process by introducing procedural obstacles such as points of order, which prevent certain actions or considerations that violate Senate procedure and law. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said it was “incredibly dangerous” for Democrats not to fulfill what he called a “constitutional obligation” to hold a trial.
“I intend to do everything I can to influence the process so we can do our job,” Schmitt added.
Some House Republicans were angry at Johnson’s decision to push back a trial that had dragged on since it passed the House after an embarrassing initial defeat in February when three Republican lawmakers voted against impeaching Mayorkas.
A host Conservative senators have already thrown cold water on these accusations and considered them baseless, criticizing the use of what was designed to be a rarely used constitutional instrument as a weapon of partisan warfare. But most of them decided to vote against a motion to dismiss the trial.
“I think we are dangerously close to using impeachment as a kind of vote of no confidence,” conceded Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “But on this point, I have no confidence in Mayorkas because we have a border situation that is out of control,” he added, dodging the question of whether Mayorkas was guilty of serious crimes and misdemeanors.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the lead Republican architect of the bipartisan border security deal, said Republicans should move forward with the lawsuit strictly for the sake of observing historical precedent. Others described the trial as a politically useful opportunity for Republicans to attack Democrats on immigration, an issue on which voters overwhelmingly disapprove of President Biden’s handling. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) called the articles “a little strange” but recommended Republicans “make the most of them.”
“The border issue is just a wonderful issue for us to talk about as Republicans,” Cramer said. “My personal belief on that – the House did it, so here we are now, we might as well make the most of it.” … There is no doubt that the details of the current situation at the border, a few months before the elections, are very good for the Republicans.
Romney is the only Republican who has said he would vote to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the border was “a disaster” but that Mayorkas had not committed any high crimes or misdemeanors. Another possible defector, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), declined to comment on her impartiality as a trial juror.
Democrats blasted Republicans for what they called a “sham” impeachment proceeding, highlighting the hypocrisy of Republican demands for Mayorkas while denying his candidacy. additional resources. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mt.), a vulnerable Democrat facing re-election, left the door open for a trial if House Republicans include border security policies in their articles of impeachment.
“The truth is we had the opportunity to repair the border, to close it. And (Republicans) voted ‘no’ because they had someone who said we want this to remain a political issue, and that’s exactly what they continue to do with this,” Tester said about the Republicans. “They can try to politicize this – and in fact, if this is a politicized document that we saw in the House, I will vote to acquit him and I will get him out. If there are policy elements there that actually make sense, I’ll take a look at them and we’ll evaluate them from there.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who worked closely with Lankford to craft the bipartisan border deal, said the impeachment trial could backfire if voters are reminded that Republicans blocked a border compromise they had demanded from Democrats.
“People are willing to believe that Republicans are insincere when it comes to talking a lot about the border and not actually solving the problem,” Murphy said. “And I think this impeachment debacle has the potential to backfire because for the first time in a long time, voters are starting to realize that Republicans may be all smoke and no fire when it comes to trying to fix the immigration problem.”
News Source : www.washingtonpost.com
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