Senate leaders are trying to strike an agreement that would allow a few hours of debate before proceeding to a vote to potentially dismiss or table the impeachment trial against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Though it would not alter the outcome, such a pact would avoid a potential pileup of procedural motions from Senate Republicans who are demanding a prolonged trial. And it would give senators additional time to debate Mayorkas’ record, which Republicans could use to criticize Democrats for an upcoming disposal of a full trial.
The deal is not yet final — and leaders have some time before the Senate meets again on the issue. While the House delivered the articles to the Senate on Tuesday, senators will not be sworn in as jurors until Wednesday. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) declined to say how much debate time Senate Republicans could get as part of the deal, but said the hope is negotiations to that end wrap up by the end of Tuesday.
“It sounds like they are making positive progress on how to dispose of impeachment,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). “There’s still some negotiations going on, but I think that’s good news.”
Still, any such deal would require unanimous consent in the Senate, meaning any one senator could scuttle it. Asked if he expects a Republican will object to the deal, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said “all options are on the table.” And he’s not alone in floating some tepid opposition to a potential agreement.
Shutting down the trial too quickly “would be a nuclear option on the part of the Democrats,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). “So I think that gives us the right to shut this place down.”
Of course, Republicans’ ideal situation would be a full trial with presentations from House impeachment managers and arguments for supporting evidence. Since any bipartisan agreement would fall far short of that due to Democratic opposition, some Senate Republicans are already voicing their concerns with any intermediate deal.
“I don’t think you can cure the fact that we’re not going to have a trial by saying: ‘But well, we talked about it for a while, so therefore that’s kind of a trial,’” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters. Hawley added that to him, a trial has to include allowing managers to present evidence.
“The House should be able to take as long as they want to present the case, and then let them go defend,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said a few hours of debate would not alleviate his concerns.
But the deal may be welcome news for other Senate Republicans, particularly those that might consider joining Democrats in tabling or dismissing the trial altogether. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican who has been critical of the impeachment, said Tuesday he wants to see the Senate consider the trial and debate it before shutting it down.
Asked about the potential deal, Romney said “if there is debate of a fulsome nature, that would be preferential.” Asked what amount of time for debate would be acceptable to him, Romney replied: “As the Supreme Court once said about a different topic, I’ll know it when I see it.”
While many senators expected Democratic leadership would quickly dispose of the trial through a motion to table or dismissal, which only require a simple majority to pass, a number of vulnerable Senate Democrats haven’t publicly committed to supporting those options. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) has been the most watched vote on the matter, as he insists he needs to review the articles before he makes a decision after previously saying he’d support a motion to dismiss.
When Tester sat down in the Senate chamber, he motioned to reporters in the gallery that he was indeed reading the copy of the impeachment articles that was on his desk, taking out his reading glasses and waving them around.
Most Republicans were at their seats as Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), an impeachment manager, read the articles aloud, though there were clear absences on the Democratic side. Romney and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a conservative who has repeatedly called for a longer trial, appeared to annotate their copies of the articles.
Senators will reconvene Wednesday afternoon and be sworn in as jurors — and that’s when parliamentary shenanigans could ensue. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has repeatedly declined to publicly share his plans for the trial aside from wanting to deal with it “expeditiously.”
Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also circulated a letter, obtained by POLITICO, to senators on Tuesday afternoon that laid out staffing ground rules and Capitol access for both members and staffers. Perhaps most importantly, the leaders reminded senators that there’s no standing allowed during the proceedings, so “senators are requested to remain in their seats at all times.”
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
