[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on one final matter, today, almost 3 
years in the House Democrats' quest to impeach the President and 7 
weeks into the inquiry that Speaker Pelosi proclaimed in a press 
conference, House Democrats will hold their first public hearing on 
impeachment.
  This hearing was mandated by the strange resolution House Democrats 
passed a couple of weeks ago. That resolution did not provide President 
Trump with important rights, which the House afforded to Presidents of 
both parties during past impeachment inquiries. It didn't even afford 
their own House Republican colleagues the same rights that House 
Republicans gave Democrats during the Clinton inquiry. No; House 
Democrats' resolution just codified their unfair approach: no due 
process now, maybe some later, but only if we feel like it. That is 
what it establishes.
  The American people know that many Washington Democrats have had 
their minds made up on impeachment for years. It was clear on election 
day 2016, and it became undeniable by Inauguration Day. That is when 
the Washington Post, before he was sworn in, ran this headline: ``The 
Campaign to Impeach President Trump has Begun.''
  The whole country saw a prominent House Democrat state publicly in 
April of 2017: ``I'm going to fight every day until he's impeached.'' 
That is the chairwoman of one of the committees the Speaker has given 
responsibility for this inquiry, promising impeachment 3 months into 
his Presidency.
  It is hardly surprising that this partisan journey is not yielding a 
neutral process. Unfortunately, it is also crowding out important 
legislation for the American people. In the House, Speaker Pelosi is 
more interested in taking away President Trump's job than in creating 
176,000 new jobs for American workers by passing the USMCA. She is 
blocking this landmark trade agreement.
  In the Senate, our Democratic colleagues have filibustered the 
funding of our Armed Forces. Despite promising to forgo the poison 
pills a few months back, Democratic leadership has run the 
appropriations process aground so they can fight over immigration 
policy with the White House.
  Speaking of our Armed Forces, House Democrats are also slow-walking 
the National Defense Authorization Act. That is an essential bill that 
Congress has passed every year--every year since 1961 like clockwork--
every year, on a bipartisan basis, for almost six decades, but this 
year House Democrats broke with precedent and passed their own partisan 
version and are now stalling the conference committee. These are the 
priorities that are languishing as impeachment marches on.

                          ____________________