[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S255-S256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, it took 4 weeks--4 weeks, but the 
Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is finally ready--
finally ready--to defend their impeachment of the President of the 
United States.
  After weeks of delay, the Speaker of the House decided yesterday that 
a trial could finally go forward. She signed the impeachment papers. 
That took place at a table with a political slogan stuck onto it. And 
they posed--they posed--afterward for smiling photos. And the Speaker 
distributed souvenir pens--souvenir pens--to her own colleagues, 
emblazoned with her golden signature that literally came in on silver 
platters. The pens literally came in on silver platters. There were 
golden pens on silver platters, a souvenir to celebrate the moment.
  I seem to remember Democrats falling over themselves to say they did 
not see impeachment as a long-sought political win. House Democrats 
said over and over that they recognized the gravity and the seriousness 
of this action, and, of course, they had only come to it reluctantly. 
Well, nothing says seriousness and sobriety like handing out souvenirs, 
as though this were a happy bill-signing instead of the gravest process 
in our Constitution.
  This final display neatly distilled the House's partisan process into 
one perfect visual. It was a transparently partisan performance from 
beginning to end.
  That is why they sped through a slapdash inquiry in 12 weeks, when 
previous Presidential impeachments came after months, if not years, of 
investigations and hearings. That is why the House cut short their own 
inquiry, declined to pursue their own subpoenas, and denied the 
President due process, but now--now they want the Senate to redo their 
homework and rerun the investigation.
  That is why our colleague the Democratic leader told the press that 
whatever happens next, as long as he can weaponize the trial to hurt 
the Republicans in the 2020 election, ``it's a win-win.'' That is what 
the Democratic leader of the Senate said.

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  That is why the Speaker of the House apparently saw nothing strange 
about celebrating the third Presidential impeachment in American 
history with souvenirs and posed for photographs--souvenirs and posed 
photographs.
  That pretty well sums it up. That is what the process has been thus 
far, but it is not what this process will be going forward.
  The Founding Fathers who crafted and ratified our Constitution knew 
that our Nation might sometimes fall prey to the kind of dangerous 
factualism and partisanship that has consumed--literally consumed the 
House of Representatives.
  The Framers set up the Senate specifically to act as a check against 
the short-termism and the runaway passions to which the House of 
Representatives might fall victim.
  Alexander Hamilton worried that ``the demon of faction'' would 
``extend his scepter'' over the House majorities ``at certain 
seasons.'' That is what Alexander Hamilton said. He feared for the 
viability of the government established by the Constitution if, blinded 
by factualism, the House of Representatives would abuse the power of 
impeachment to serve nakedly partisan goals rather than long-term 
interests of the American people and their Republic, but, fortunately, 
they did something about it.
  They did not give both the power to impeach and the power to remove 
to the House. They divided the power and placed the final decision on 
removal over here in the Senate.
  This body, this Chamber, exists precisely--precisely so we can look 
past the daily dramas and understand how our actions will reverberate 
for generations; so we can put aside animal reflexes and animosity and 
coolly consider how to best serve our country in the long run; so we 
can break factional fevers before they jeopardize the core institutions 
of our government.
  As Hamilton put it, only the Senate, with ``confidence enough in its 
own situation,'' can ``preserve, unawed and uninfluenced, the necessary 
impartiality between an individual accused, and the representatives of 
the people, his accusers.''
  The House's hour is over. The Senate's time is at hand. It is time 
for this proud body to honor our founding purpose.

                          ____________________