(17 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++EDIT BEGINS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITES++
++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++
POOL
Washington – 17 April 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader:
"And we felt very strongly that we had to set a precedent that impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. I felt that very strongly. This is the first impeachment I can recall. You look at history. None were done because there were policy disagreements. If we allowed that to happen, it would set a disastrous precedent for Congress, could throw our system of checks and balances into cycles of chaos. Any time the House would want to just shut the Senate down, they could send over another impeachment resolution."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader:
"The dangerous precedent was not the one the Republicans are talking about, but the one of letting impeachment take the place of policy disagreements."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader:
"It’s clear that Republicans aren’t interested in working with Democrats to fix the problems at the border. In fact, if they wanted to pass the bipartisan proposal we put together and have a debate on it about policy, fine. If Republicans, instead of spending so much time and energy on this meritless impeachment work with Democrats on border reform, then we might have actually gotten something done. If House Republicans want to have a serious debate on border security, we welcome it. But everyone knows what’s happening at the border is terrible and needs fixing. That’s not a secret. The president knows it. Secretary Mayorkas knows it. Both parties in Congress know it. That’s exactly why we had a bipartisan bill to fix it. Democrats worked hand in hand with Republicans for four months to draft the strongest border security bill in 30 years. A bill with dramatic updates to asylum and reformed parole. A bill that provided new tools for addressing the fentanyl crisis. A bill that provided new resources to Border Patrol agents. If our Republican colleagues would have allowed it to come to the floor here in the Senate and down the hall over in the House, I’m certain it would have passed and gone to the president’s desk. But we all know what happened. Donald Trump told his Republican allies in Congress to kill this border bill before we could even debate it. The former president explicitly took credit for that bill going down. Please blame it on me, he said, his words. So let me say it just one more time. If Republicans, instead of spending so much time and energy on this meritless impeachment, worked with Democrats on border reform, we might have actually gotten something done on this very serious issue."
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STORYLINE:
The Senate has dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the House Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office over his handling of the the U.S.-Mexico border and ending his trial before arguments even began.
Senators voted to dismiss both articles of impeachment and end the trial, with Democrats arguing that the articles were unconstitutional. The first article charged Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply" with immigration law. The second article charged Mayorkas with a “breach of trust” for saying the border was secure. The votes were 51-48 and 51-49, both along party lines.
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