The Senate began its debate over articles of impeachment against the Secretary of Homeland Security Alexander Mayorkas Democrats are expected to move quickly to reject the articles on Wednesday, while Republicans are pushing for a full investigation.
The House sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate On Tuesday And senators were sworn in as jurors Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not specified exactly how he plans to practically handle the investigation. But Democratic senators — as well as some Republicans — expect the Senate to move The case should be dismissed before a full trial. Democrats could pass a resolution to reject or table the articles in a simple majority vote on Wednesday.
Whatever happens, it's doubtful the chamber will vote guilty, which would require a two-thirds majority — a very high bar to clear.
Senate Republicans are trying to reach a timing agreement with Democrats that would allow floor debate and allow GOP senators to get votes on procedural motions. It's unclear how long the process will take, given how many procedural delays Republicans could try if a time agreement isn't reached, though at some point the chief executive could extend those efforts and cut them off.
Mayorkas was the first cabinet secretary to be sacked in nearly 150 years. House Republicans Voted for impeachment Mayorgas narrowly captured the southern border in February after failing in his first attempt.
Democrats have slammed the impeachment as a political stunt, while Republicans say the move lacks a valid basis and that policy differences are not a justification for a rarely used constitutional impeachment of a cabinet official.
“We want to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” Schumer said in floor remarks Tuesday. “Allegations should never be used to resolve a policy conflict.”
And, “Talk about bad precedents. This will set a bad precedent for Congress. Every time there is a policy deal in the House, do they send it here and impeach the Senate in knots? That's ridiculous. It is an abuse of process. It's still confusing.”
Many congressional Republicans, however, have criticized the possibility of a quick repeal or tabled move.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that senators have a “rare” and “substantial” responsibility to consider articles of impeachment, and said he would oppose any attempt to table the articles.
“As befits the solemn and rare responsibility of convening an impeachment court, I wish to give these charges my full and undivided attention,” he said.
The Kentucky Republican added, “It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to shirk our clear responsibility and to fail to give the allegations we hear today the full consideration they deserve. I will strongly oppose any attempt to introduce articles of impeachment and avoid confronting the Biden administration's border crisis head-on.
Additionally, some far-right Republican senators are trying to find a way to force a full investigation, but their efforts are not expected to gain enough traction, according to senators and aides from both parties.
If the Senate were to hold a rejection vote, which some Republicans have signaled they might be willing to do, it wouldn't necessarily break down along party lines — especially if there is time for debate before the vote.
Democrats up for re-election in tight races face pressure whether they decide to drop or present their ballots and articles.
Sen. Bob Casey, a weak Democrat from Pennsylvania who is up for re-election, told CNN's Manu Raju that he would vote for impeachment, calling it a “partisan move.”
Asked if he thought there should be a Senate hearing, Casey replied, “I don't. I think we should move forward on a bilateral border security agreement.
“You've got to hire Border Patrol agents, you've got to hire more people at ICE to enforce border security. You can't do that with an exercise like they're involved in. It's a partisan exercise, and I think it's a waste of people's time, but we've got to get past it,” he said. He added.
Sen. Joan Tester, Democrat of Montana, who is up for re-election, did not say whether she planned to support the repeal motion when asked by CNN on Tuesday before the articles were sent to the Senate. “I'm going to read the articles this morning, I haven't yet,” he said, “I have more articles to read.”
Murray, a Democrat from Washington, will oversee the proceedings.
Republicans have targeted Mayorkas since taking control of the House, accusing the Homeland Security secretary of a high number of border crossings as the party faces pressure from its base to go after the Biden administration on a key campaign issue.
However, many constitutional experts have said the evidence presented by Republicans for impeachment does not meet the high bar of high crimes and misdemeanors set by the U.S. Constitution.
While Mayorkas has pushed back against criticism of his leadership, DHS has was invited The allegation against him is baseless political attack.
The White House, for its part, has worked to flip the script, citing Republicans' blocking of a bipartisan border deal in the Senate as evidence that the party is not serious about border security.
White House and Homeland Security officials have been in frequent contact during the impeachment trial against Mayorgas, playing strategy and response while publicly portraying the investigation as a political stunt. Since Republicans launched their bid to oust the Homeland Security secretary, Biden administration officials have said they plan to keep Mayorgas in office, dismissing the GOP impeachment inquiry into the DHS chief as “unmerited.”
Instead, the White House and Homeland Security officials have employed a split-screen strategy, like wasting time on House majority action while Mayorgas works with senators to hammer out a border deal.
After months of negotiations, Senate Republicans Blocked that major bipartisan border deal Earlier this year, it would have marked a drastic change in immigration law and given the president long-standing powers to crack down on illegal immigrants at the southern border.
The deal came under fire from former President Donald Trump and top House Republicans.
CNN's Manu Raju and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
