The House is expected to delay delivering articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by at least one week, if not longer, the Washington Examiner has learned.
The GOP-controlled House is expected to wait until after Congress has averted a partial government shutdown on Friday to hand off the two articles to the Senate, according to an aide who confirmed a Punchbowl News report.
However, that delay could go longer. A handful of federal spending bills are awaiting passage before Friday, but additional spending bills must be approved by the following Friday, March 8, when the other chunk of funding is slated to expire. Not passing any spending bills would result in a full government shutdown.
Mayorkas was impeached by the House on Feb. 13 by a vote of 214-213. The House was expected to deliver the articles across the U.S. Capitol by the end of February.
Senate procedures dictate that the upper chamber meet the day after articles have been delivered. Senators would then be sworn in as jurors, and an impeachment trial would follow, with representatives from the House serving as the prosecution.
The Democratic-controlled Senate has floated the idea of tabling the articles, which has not been done in more than 20 impeachment hearings in the body’s history.
The Senate could also move to launch a trial committee and refer the articles to that panel.
To move on tabling the measure, Democrats would require a simple 51-vote majority. However, it would require that all Democrats vote straight party-line and do not defect.
Mayorkas was impeached by the House over his handling of the southern border. More than 8 million non-U.S. citizens have been encountered attempting to enter the United States in the three years since President Joe Biden took office — the highest figure in any three-year period.
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The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that House Republicans’ effort to investigate and impeach the Cabinet official is nothing more than an election-year political sham.
“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,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement following the Feb. 13 vote.
