[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S99-S100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, first, this morning I want to 
associate myself with a statement made yesterday by one of our 
distinguished colleagues about the House Democrats treating impeachment 
like a political toy. Here is what the Senator said: ``If it's serious 
and urgent, send them over. If it isn't, don't.'' That was our 
Democratic colleague, the senior Senator from California, the ranking 
member of the Judiciary Committee. She wasn't alone.
  ``It's time to get on with it.'' That is our Democratic colleague the 
junior Senator from Delaware.
  ``At some point, it's appropriate to send them and pass the baton to 
Senators.'' That is our Democratic colleague, the senior Senator from 
Connecticut.
  ``I think the time has past. She should send the articles.'' That is 
our Democratic colleague the junior Senator from Connecticut.
  Now, this is a challenging time to create bipartisan agreement in the 
Senate on any subject, but the Speaker of the House has managed to do 
the impossible. She has created this growing bipartisan unity here in 
the Senate in opposition to her own reckless behavior.
  The Senators may not agree on much, but it appears most of us still 
recognize the threat to our institution when we see one. Article I, 
section 3, says: ``The Senate shall have the sole power to try all 
impeachments''--period.
  The House can begin the process, and Speaker Pelosi's majority has 
certainly done that, but the Senate alone can resolve it. Yet, for 
weeks now, the House majority has blocked the Senate from fulfilling 
our constitutional duty. In a precedent-breaking display of 
partisanship, the Speaker has refused to let her own allegations 
proceed normally to trial unless she gets to hand-design various 
elements of our Senate process. In other words, the House Democrats 
already spent 12 weeks undermining the institution of the Presidency 
with a historically unfair and subjective impeachment, and now, for a 
sequel, they have come after the institution of the Senate as well. 
That is where we are.
  The dwindling number of our Senate Democratic colleagues who remain 
complicit in this must realize what they are doing. Should future House 
majorities feel empowered to waste our time with junior varsity 
political hostage situations? Should future Speakers be permitted to 
conjure up this sword of Damocles at will and leave it hanging over the 
Senate unless we do what they say? Of course not.
  This week, a majority of the Senate stepped forward to make it 
perfectly clear that this conversation is over. A majority of this body 
has said definitively that we are not ceding our constitutional 
authority to the partisan designs of the Speaker. We will not let

[[Page S100]]

the House extend its precedent-breaking spree over here to our Chamber.
  There will be no unfair new rule book written solely for President 
Trump. The basic organization of the first phase of this trial will 
track the phase one of the Clinton trial, which all 100 Senators voted 
for in 1999. I have said for months that this is our preferred route.
  By the way, that is exactly what the American people want. Seventy-
seven percent told a Harvard-Harris survey that the basic outline of a 
Clinton trial, reserving the witness question until later in the 
proceedings, ought to be good enough for this President as well. Fair 
is fair. In the same survey, 58 percent of Americans said they want 
Speaker Pelosi to do her job and send the articles to the Senate rather 
than continue delaying.
  It makes sense that American families have lost patience with this 
act just like we Senators have lost patience with it because this is 
not just some intramural tiff between the two Houses in our bicameral 
legislature. This recklessness affects our entire country.
  When you take a step back, what has really happened over the last 3 
weeks? What has happened? When you take a step back from the political 
noise and the pundits discussing ``leverage''--by the way, that never 
existed--what have House Democrats actually done?
  This is what they have done. They have initiated one of the most 
grave and most unsettling processes in our Constitution and then 
refused to allow a resolution of it. The Speaker began something that 
she herself predicted would be ``so divisive to the country,'' and now 
she is unilaterally saying it cannot move forward to resolution.
  It is bad enough that House Democrats gave in to the temptation of 
subjective impeachment that every previous House for 230 years has 
managed to resist. However unwise, that is their constitutional 
prerogative. They get to start it, if they choose, but they do not get 
to declare that it can never be finished. They do not get to trap our 
entire country into an unending ``Groundhog Day'' of impeachment 
without resolution.
  Alexander Hamilton specifically warned against a procrastinated 
resolution of impeachments. In part, that is because our duly-elected 
President deserves a verdict, just like every American who is accused 
by their government deserves a speedy trial.
  This goes deeper than fairness to one individual. This is about what 
is fair to the entire country. There is a reason why the Framers did 
not contemplate a permanently unsettled Presidency. That is true under 
any circumstances, but consider especially the circumstances of recent 
days. Even as the Democrats have prolonged this game, we have seen Iran 
escalate tensions with our Nation. We live in a dangerous world.
  So, yes, the House majority can create this temporary cloud over a 
Commander in Chief if they choose--if they choose--but they do not get 
to keep the cloud in place forever. Look, there is real business for 
the American people that the Senate needs to complete. If the Speaker 
continues to refuse to take her own accusations to trial, the Senate 
will move forward next week with the business of our people. We will 
operate on the assumption that House Democrats are too embarrassed--too 
embarrassed--to ever move forward, and we will get back to the people's 
business.
  For example, the Senate continues to process President Trump's 
landmark trade deal, the USMCA, through our committees of jurisdiction. 
It passed the Senate Finance Committee this week by a landslide vote of 
25 to 3, a major victory for the President and for working families. 
Now our other committees will continue their consideration.
  And there is more. The epidemic of opioids, fentanyl, and other 
substance abuse continues to plague our Nation. Some colleagues have 
signaled they may raise privileged resolutions on war powers. The 
Senate has plenty of serious work to do for our country. So while the 
Speaker continues her irresponsible games, we will continue doing the 
people's business.

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