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About a dozen Republican senators plan to disrupt the chamber’s business if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) allows articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be tabled without holding a trial.
“Six sources told Fox News Digital that roughly a dozen GOP senators have been planning for more than a week to obstruct legislative proceedings and regular business in the Senate if, at a minimum, points of order are not agreed to in the impeachment trial of Mayorkas when the House impeachment managers deliver the articles to” Schumer, the outlet reported on Wednesday.
“The Senate runs on unanimous consent,” a Senate Republican aide familiar with the talks told the outlet. “Any one senator can do that.”
The aide added that conversations between GOP senators have been ongoing since last week.
A set of facts — points of order — must be agreed upon before a Senate trial for impeachment can commence.
“We go about a process to negotiate the precise procedural metes and bounds of this particular impeachment proceedings,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said during a press conference Tuesday discussing the Mayorkas impeachment.
During the same press conference, GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana pointed out that Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray of Washington would oversee the proceedings.
“She doesn’t have to recognize us. That’s entirely possible that Senator Schumer will tell her only to recognize him and we won’t even have a chance to make a point of order,” he said.
Another Republican aide told Fox that other GOP senators are discussing slowing down Senate business or stopping it altogether.
A top GOP Senate source said that it’s always a possibility that any one senator could create a holdup with an objection at any time, adding that a halt in business would have been more likely if the articles were going to be delivered this week.
Previously, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that they were going to be delivered to the Senate on Wednesday, but at the behest of Senate Republicans, he decided to delay it until at least next week.
Fox News added:
The Senate Republican aide gave examples of what such a Senate standstill would look like, pointing to motions to adjourn, recess and proceed to executive business, as well as objections to regular business such as wrap-ups, forcing the Senate to go through lengthy procedural actions such as reading from the journal and recapping the previous day’s business. The senators could also object to various requests to move forward on items with unanimous consent, including legislation, schedule items and adjourning.
The plan from conservative Republicans would be meant as a mechanism to bring Schumer and Democrats to the negotiating table on the Mayorkas impeachment trial.
According to sources, Lee raised an objection during the Senate’s daily wrap-up on Monday evening. This was seen as a partial objection and is believed to be the result of the Democrats dismissing the impeachment trial proceedings against Mayorkas. Lee’s objection led to several procedural hurdles that needed to be cleared by the Senate before wrapping up.
According to Lee’s office, the senator’s objection was related to the upcoming impeachment article delivery. The Democrats may try to quickly end the trial through a procedural move, Fox noted, but the senator’s objection was meant to show the difficulties Republicans could bring in the upper chamber. The goal was to make his Democratic colleagues reconsider their decision to table the impeachment trial.
Not surprisingly, DHS is defending Mayorkas’ policies along the border, despite them leading to millions of migrants being allowed into the U.S. illegally.
“Without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds, and despite bipartisan opposition, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country. Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe,” DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said earlier.
