Given that many Republicans are opposed to impeachment or think it is not even constitutional after Trump leaves office, it can be difficult to get the cooperation Biden needs to deal with a trial along with cabinet confirmations and start working on one. new project to stimulate the coronavirus. Biden and the Democrats say it is essential to strike a deal that does both, but a single senator can stand in the way of any multitasking effort.
All of this creates an even greater degree of difficulty for the Biden Cabinet and the first legislative priorities to be approved by the Senate in its first critical days in office.
“We are working with Republicans to try to find a way forward,” said a spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer, who will become the majority leader later this month, as soon as two new Democratic senators from Georgia take office and Kamala Harris become vice president. ties. Until then, however, Senator Mitch McConnell is the majority leader.
Minority Senate Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Said on MSNBC on Thursday that he spoke with Schumer that morning and that “there was no exchange or conversation with Senator McConnell about setting a specific time to start the trial. ”
And there is already concern that Biden will be paralyzed in the early days. Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), a centrist who supports Trump’s conviction, said a trial “precludes that first week or two that should basically be dedicated to putting our government back in place.” He expected the House to give the Senate at least a month “until our government was up and running again”.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unlikely to wait until after Biden’s inauguration to trigger the start of the trial, formally transmitting the impeachment article to the Senate. Pelosi has been discreet about the timing, but his top lieutenants have spent the past few days emphasizing the urgency of moving the case to the Senate as soon as possible. Democrats wanted McConnell to bring the Senate back this week to begin the trial in earnest, but McConnell rejected the request.
“To choose between holding those responsible for attacking our democracy on the US Capitol on the one hand and doing the work for the people around Covid? This is a false choice, ”said Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.). “We need to do all of these things.”
Schumer and McConnell may also face a mess of procedures, even after the trial has started. Senate control is expected to change in the middle of the trial, once Biden and Harris are sworn in and the two newly elected Democratic Senators from Georgia, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, take office. Simultaneously with the preparation of the trial, Schumer will have to define the traffic rules for a 50-50 Senate with McConnell.
With the Senate split and court president John Roberts presiding over the trial, party votes in the Senate could also lead to an impasse. Last year, the two parties sought to avoid putting Roberts in the tiebreaker.
Some Republican senators have even questioned the constitutional authority of the Senate to put a former president on trial.
“The founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove public office occupants – not an inquiry against private citizens,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “The Constitution presupposes a position from which a removed office holder can be removed.”
There are signs that Biden is concerned about the upcoming trial and its impact on his first 100 days in office. Earlier this week, the president-elect said that he hopes the Senate will be able to “fork” during the trial and “spend half a day with the impeachment and half a day for my people to be nominated and confirmed in the Senate, as well as move forward in the [Covid-19 relief] package.”
And in a statement after the House’s impeachment vote on Wednesday night, Biden indicated that he supports the effort to hold Trump accountable for the Capitol’s deadly riots, but said the Senate should not abandon its cabinet confirmations and other legislative priorities like Covid-19 relief.
“This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a staggering economy,” said Biden. “I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with its constitutional responsibilities on impeachment, while also working on other urgent matters in this nation.”
Biden can take office without any of his cabinet nominees confirmed by the Senate, which normally considers the choices of a new president before taking office. This makes the early days of his presidency even more critical.
Biden specifically named the head of Homeland Security, State, Defense, Treasury and intelligence as his top priorities. Senate committees are meeting in the coming days to hold confirmation hearings for those and other Cabinet positions.
Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the top Republican on the Homeland Security panel, said on Wednesday night that Biden “rightly said he wants to establish a new tone of greater unity when his government starts. We must all be concerned with polarization in our country and work to bring people together. “
But if Trump’s second attempt is like the first, it will be much more difficult to turn the page on Biden. Republicans are already complaining that the House has not given Trump “due process” – suggesting that the Senate could have a hard time.
“I have spent the past two days interviewing five Biden nominees for the Cabinet and I want to get to the serious subject of legislating and forming a new administration with which we can work,” said Senator Kevin Cramer (RN.D.) at CNBC. “Do not continue to work against it, which is what I fear will happen if we continue with these theatrical impeachments.”
Ben Leonard, Marianne LeVine and Anthony Adragna contributed to this report.