Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 2 (Monday, January 6, 2020)

[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 2 (Monday, January 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S25-S26]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 464--TO CONSTITUTE THE MAJORITY PARTY'S MEMBERSHIP ON
CERTAIN COMMITTEES FOR THE ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS, OR UNTIL
THEIR SUCCESSORS ARE CHOSEN

Mr. McCONNELL submitted the following resolution; which was
considered and agreed to:

S. Res. 464

Resolved, That the following shall constitute the majority
party's membership on the following committees for the One
Hundred Sixteenth Congress, or until their successors are
chosen:
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Mr.
Roberts, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Hoeven, Ms. Ernst,
Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Braun, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Thune, Mrs.
Fischer, Mrs. Loeffler.
Committee on Finance: Mr. Grassley, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Roberts,
Mr. Enzi, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Thune, Mr. Burr, Mr. Portman, Mr.
Toomey, Mr. Scott (SC), Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Lankford, Mr.
Daines, Mr. Young, Mr. Sasse.
Committee on Foreign Relations: Mr. Risch, Mr. Rubio, Mr.
Johnson, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Romney, Mr. Graham, Mr. Barrasso,
Mr. Portman, Mr. Paul, Mr. Young, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Perdue.
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Mr.
Alexander, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Burr, Mr. Paul, Ms. Collins, Mr.
Cassidy, Mr. Roberts, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Scott (SC), Mr.
Romney, Mr. Braun, Mrs. Loeffler.
Joint Economic Committee: Mr. Lee, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Portman,
Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Cruz, Mrs. Loeffler.
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Mr. Moran, Mr. Boozman, Mr.
Cassidy, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs.
Blackburn, Mr. Cramer, Mrs. Loeffler.
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SENATE RESOLUTION 463--AMENDING THE RULES OF PROCEDURE AND PRACTICE IN
THE SENATE WHEN SITTING ON IMPEACHMENT TRIALS

Mr. HAWLEY (for himself, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Braun, Mrs.
Blackburn, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Daines, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Cotton, Ms. Ernst,
Mr. Perdue, and Mr. Inhofe) submitted the following resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration:

S. Res. 463

Resolved, That rule I of the Rules of Procedure and
Practice in the Senate When Sitting on Impeachment Trials is
amended to read as follows:
``I. Whensoever the Senate shall receive notice from the
House of Representatives that managers are appointed on their
part to conduct an impeachment against any person and are
directed to carry articles of impeachment to the Senate, the
Secretary of the Senate shall immediately inform the House of
Representatives that the Senate is ready to receive the
managers for the purpose of exhibiting such articles of
impeachment, agreeably to such notice. If, following adoption
of such articles, the House of Representatives does not so
notify the Senate or otherwise provide for such articles to
be exhibited to the Senate within 25 calendar days from the
date of adoption of such articles, as recorded in the Journal
of the House of Representatives, such articles shall be
deemed exhibited before the Senate and it shall be in order
for any Senator to offer a motion to dismiss such articles
with prejudice for failure by the House of Representatives to
prosecute such articles. Such motion shall be adopted by an
affirmative vote of a majority of the Senators, duly chosen
and sworn, without debate by the yeas and nays, which shall
be entered on the record.''.

Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, it has been 19 days today--19 days--since
the House of Representatives impeached the President of the United
States. It has been 19 days since we were told that it was urgent that
President Trump be impeached and removed from office. It was urgent for
the safety of the country. It was urgent for national security. It was
urgent to protect the Constitution of the United States. It was urgent;
it had to be done now. The articles had to be rushed through. The rules
had to be violated. There couldn't be due process. It was urgent.
Where are we now? Nineteen days later, the Speaker of the House has

[[Page S26]]

still not transmitted the articles to this body for a trial, has still
not appointed managers for a trial, has still not exhibited the
articles before this body for a trial.
We now have the longest delay in American history in providing notice
to this body and actually moving forward with a trial, and now I think
we have a better sense of what was urgent. What was urgent was
fulfilling the partisan vendetta that the Speaker of the House and the
Democrats have against this President. What was urgent was overturning
the results of an election that they have never accepted. That is what
was urgent.
But now--now that it is time to actually try the case--well, now the
Speaker and the Democrats aren't so sure. In fact, now they don't seem
to want a trial. Now, when it is time to put up or shut up, actually
put the evidence forward to be judged, Speaker Pelosi is saying that
she may withhold the articles indefinitely and prevent this body
indefinitely from carrying out its constitutional responsibilities--
after, of course, a bipartisan coalition in the House of
Representatives voted against impeachment.
I think we can probably see, the longer we wait, why the Speaker is
so reluctant now to have a trial. It was a purely partisan process in
the House. She had Democrats abandon her and vote with Republicans in a
bipartisan coalition against impeachment. The articles don't even
allege a crime. This was the first time in American history in the
impeachment of a President in which no crime was even alleged in the
articles, no evidence of a crime even presented. No wonder she doesn't
want to have a trial. No wonder she is now sitting on the articles and
will not permit a Senate trial to begin.
Well, here is the problem with that: The Constitution of the United
States is really clear. The House has the power to impeach. They have
done that. But the Senate--and the Senate alone--has the power to try.
The Constitution, article I, says that the Senate has the sole power
to try impeachment cases, to adjudicate what has happened in the House,
to examine the facts, and to render a judgment of some sort. Now the
House Speaker is attempting to prevent the Senate from carrying out its
constitutional responsibilities, its constitutional prerogative.
All of this division and rancor--all of this bitterness that she has
put the country through now for months on end--she apparently wants to
continue indefinitely and deny this body its constitutional
responsibility to conduct a trial.
It has been 19 days. It could be 90 days. It could be 190 days. There
is nothing that will stop the Speaker from sitting on these articles
indefinitely. They could persist into the President's second term, if
and when he is reelected. That is the situation we are now facing.
If Americans are sick of this impeachment saga, this partisan circus
now, just wait until we are still sitting here in October or January of
next year or January of the year following or who knows when without a
trial, without adjudication, without any resolution. That is why it is
time for this body to act.
It is time for the Senate to act to preserve the Constitution's
separation of powers, to preserve the Constitution's guarantees--the
right to due process, the right for the President to be heard, the
right for the American people to have these Articles of Impeachment
adjudicated, resolved, as the Constitution commits to and provides for.
That is why today I am introducing a resolution to update the Senate's
rules to account for this unprecedented attempt by the Speaker of the
House to delay, to deny, to obstruct a trial in the U.S. Senate.
Let's be clear. This has never been done before. It has not even been
thought of before. Nobody had thought, before Speaker Pelosi launched
this gambit 19 days ago, that the House could sit on Articles of
Impeachment indefinitely in order to stop a Senate trial.
If the Constitution is going to remain in effect, if the Senate is
going to have the power, as the Constitution provides, to try cases, if
the President is going to get his day in court, if the American people
are going to have the ability to have this issue resolved, to see the
facts, to get a verdict, the Senate has to act.
Today I am proposing new rules in the U.S. Senate that will set a
time limit on the actions of the House. It will give the House Speaker
25 days from the date that the articles are adopted and published to
transmit those articles here to the Senate, to exhibit them as the
House rules and Senate rules currently speak of and anticipate, and if
that is not done, if in 25 days the House Speaker has not acted so that
the Senate is able to move forward with a trial, then, under my
resolution and the change in the rules that I propose today, the Senate
would be able to introduce a motion to dismiss these articles for lack
of prosecution.
In the real world, when a prosecutor brings a case but refuses to try
it, the court has the ability and the defendant has the right--a
constitutional right, I might add--to have those indictments, those
charges, dismissed. That is precisely the action that I am proposing
today.
It is time to update the Senate's rules to account for this
unprecedented attempt at obstruction, at denial, at delay. It is time
for the Senate to act.
The House has a simple choice in front of it--or it should. That
choice is to send the Articles of Impeachment to this body to be tried
before this body, to exhibit the evidence that it has to make the case
that it can, however poor that case may be, but to make the case that
it can and to allow the American people the right to have this
resolution achieved, the right to have the evidence tried, the right to
have the verdict rendered.
It is time for the Senate to act to ensure that the constitutional
balance of power, the constitutional separation of powers, and the
basic functioning of this government of our Republic are able to go
forward. This is a matter of great urgency. There is nothing more
serious than an attempt to overturn the results of a democratic
election and to remove from office a sitting President, and that is
exactly what is happening now.
It is imperative that we act. The country deserves it. It is
imperative for future Congresses and for the future of the country that
the Constitution not be subverted in this rush by Speaker Pelosi and
House Democrats to remove this President from office without evidence,
on no basis, and solely for political purposes. We must defend the
Constitution, and we must act now to do so.

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