Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act--Motion to Proceed--

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, with me today is one of my colleagues from my office, Mr. Matt Turner.

I want to talk about the woolly mammoth in the room: impeachment. I want my colleagues to just put aside for a second the legal aspect of this. Let's stop thinking for a second about how many lawyers can dance on the head of a pin, and let's just think for a moment what is about to happen over the next 2 days.

A few moments ago, the managers from the U.S. House of Representatives came over--every Member of the Senate was here and seated--and read their Articles of Impeachment, their charges, about Secretary Mayorkas. The U.S. House of Representatives--did you notice I said that? Representatives of the U.S. House of Representatives came over to us.

As I said the other day, we are not talking about some snow bro who likes chicken McNuggets and weed and has an opinion. We are not talking about some game boy who is living in his parents' basement and has an opinion--though both of them are entitled to their opinion because this is America.

We are talking about the U.S. House of Representatives. For months, they investigated the open, bleeding wound that is the southern border and why it is open and why it is bleeding. And after investigating it-- not for days, not for weeks--for months, the U.S. House of Representatives voted two articles, two charges, in an impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas.

And those are serious charges. They are as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke. The first one is willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law--not negligence--willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law. The second charge is breach of the public trust-- breach of the public trust. Serious, serious charges.

Now, this doesn't happen every day or every week or every month or even every year around here. Our country is almost 250 years old. This has only happened 22 times. Twenty-two times has the U.S. House of Representatives impeached a public official. And every single time-- check it. Go Google it. Every single time--you can write this down, take it home to mama. Every single time, except when the public official has quit, the U.S. Senate has done its job, through thick and thin, whether the Democrats were in the majority or the Republicans were in the majority. It didn't matter who the President was. We did our job because we respect the institution of the Constitution; we respect the three branches of government; we respect the U.S. House of Representatives. We respect them enough to do our job. We held a trial every single time, except when the public official quit.

Now, in the next 2 days, you are going to hear one of my colleagues-- the majority leader--say we don't need to hold a trial. He is going to say the evidence is insufficient, that it is not worth our time. I want you to think for a moment. Just ask yourself this question: How does he know the evidence isn't sufficient? How does he know? He hasn't heard the evidence.

What you are about to see, folks--it breaks my heart to say this. Over the next 2 days, what you are going to see is not about the evidence. It is not about the law. It is not about the process. It is not about what should be 250 years of precedent in history. It is about raw, gut politics-- raw, gut politics.

Some of my colleagues in this body do not want us to talk about the border in an election year, and we all know that. You know that. I know that. Everybody watching knows that. The American people know that. They may be poorer under President Biden, but they are not stupid. They can see that. And that is not right. It is vacuous. It is fraudulent. Regardless of what you think or you may think you think without having heard the evidence, the U.S. Senate should do its job. We should hold a trial.

Now, my Democratic friends have the votes. They can do pretty much what they want to. When you have got the votes, you know, you can--what is the old expression? You can make a koala bear eat hot peppers and like it if you have the votes. They have the majority, and I believe in the rule of law, and the rules are the rules. But sometimes--sometimes the majority just means a lot of the fools are on the same side. That is why we have a Bill of Rights in our Constitution: to protect our rights that the majority can't take away.

And I want to say this as respectfully as I can because I understand politics. I have been in this business for a while. The Presiding Officer has too. I have seen the dark side of it too. I have seen the good side, but I have seen the dark side. And what I am seeing right now is the dark side. I am seeing the dark side.

This is a political decision, and it is an insult to the Senate. And it is one more step of the U.S. Senate rotting from within, where we don't do our job for political reasons. So I am asking my Democratic colleagues--I say this gently, with as much respect as I can muster: Pretty please, pretty please, pretty please with sugar on top, let's do our job. Just because you have the votes, don't dismiss these impeachment proceedings summarily, like it is spam in your inbox. The U.S. Senate needs to do its job.

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