The House will postpone its plans to send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate after concerns by Republican senators that Democrats would push to table a trial if brought to the floor too soon.
After a request from a group of GOP senators on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) agreed to delay transferring the articles until Monday, a GOP senator confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The House was initially scheduled to send the articles to the Senate on Wednesday.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) confirmed that the impeachment articles would reach the upper chamber on Monday after Republican senators pushed for a later trial. That push came as some Democratic lawmakers have indicated they would vote to table the impeachment articles, avoiding a trial altogether.
“The speaker, we asked him to delay sending over the articles until Monday to at least give us a full week,” Kennedy said. “We’ll see if [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer honors the extra time.”
The move comes after the House impeached Mayorkas in February by a 214-213 vote on charges that he failed to enforce U.S. immigration law. The lower chamber was first expected to deliver the articles by the end of February, but Republicans later indicated they would wait until after Congress averted a partial government shutdown later that month.
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. It could also move to launch a trial committee and refer the articles to that panel.
To move on tabling the measure, Democrats would only need a simple, 51-vote majority. However, it would require that all Democrats vote straight party-line and do not defect.
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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.
