Senate Republicans created procedural headaches Thursday for Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer to protest Democrats’ plan not to hold a full impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Republicans wielded their meager minority power in the chamber to turn mundane unanimous consent votes into drawn-out roll-call votes that eat up the chamber’s time.
Democrats want to rapidly derail a Senate trial on two impeachment articles against Mr. Mayorkas once they’re delivered from the House next week. Speaker Mike Johnson delayed delivering the articles this week to exert pressure on Senate Democrats.
The Senate would be able to dismiss the articles without a full trial with a simple majority vote.
Republicans forced roll-call votes Thursday for conducting legislative business so Mr. Schumer could tee up a district court nominee and for recesses for the weekend.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the lone Republican to vote with Democrats on both measures. Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, joined Ms. Collins in voting with Democrats to recess for the weekend.
Mr. Mayorkas is accused of mishandling illegal immigration, specifically willfully subverting immigration enforcement laws and breaching the public trust by lying to Congress and the public about the southern border and his efforts to control it.
Democrats scoff at the charges as purely political and based on policy disputes with President Biden, thereby not deserving a full trial.
In a letter to Mr. Schumer signed by 43 of the 49 Senate Republicans, GOP lawmakers demanded that the chamber “uphold its constitutional responsibility to properly adjudicate” the articles.
“Never before has the Senate abandoned this duty, even when certain members believed the basis for impeachment was tenuous at best,” they wrote. “Two-hundred and twenty-seven years of Senate history mandates a trial.”
Senate Democrats have also countered by pointing to the GOP efforts to dismiss two separate impeachment trials against former President Donald Trump.
Six Republicans did not sign the letter to Mr. Schumer: Ms. Collins, Mr. Paul, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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