Senate Republicans are making an effort to hold as many votes as possible during the initial proceedings of the impeachment trial of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before Democrats in the chamber proceed to dismiss the trial. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has expressed his intention to seek dismissal of the House-passed articles of impeachment, after previously indicating a desire to quickly move past the proceedings. Negotiations are underway between the two parties on the structure of the proceedings, with a potential agreement for unanimous consent being explored.
The potential agreement for unanimous consent would allow Republicans to propose eight total points of order against the motions to dismiss, with each point of order requiring its own vote. This would lengthen the process and require Democrats to go on record on several components of the impeachment articles against Mayorkas. Schumer has stated that he will seek an agreement to allow for points of order and debate time for Republicans, in order to accommodate their wishes. The agreement will require that no senator objects, according to Schumer.
A unanimous consent agreement is being sought to allow 90 minutes of open debate after the senators are sworn in as jurors. Two resolutions would receive votes, one calling for a full Senate trial and the other referring the matter to a Senate Impeachment Trial committee first. Republican senators are looking to use every option possible to require more votes within the impeachment trial process, in order to put their Democratic colleagues on record as much as possible. The agreement being discussed for unanimous consent would require four minutes of debate ahead of each vote, which would be equally divided between the parties.
The approach of seeking dismissal, preferred by Democrats, was chosen over a motion to table, which has never been done in an impeachment trial. This approach will likely lead to the ultimate dismissal of the Mayorkas impeachment trial, but Republicans will have several opportunities to put Democrats on the record on multiple immigration and border related topics. The goal seems to be to pressure vulnerable Democratic senators who are up for re-election in key states to take a stance on these issues. Republicans in the Senate are working to make the impeachment trial process as thorough and impactful as possible, even if the ultimate outcome is expected to be dismissal.
