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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I rise to bring attention to the matter of grave importance to the Senate. My friend and colleague from Indiana just spoke about this just a few minutes ago. We are going to be delivered Articles of Impeachment to this Chamber, which is a very important role that the Senate plays in our constitutional structure, our constitutional order. All of us are sworn in as jurors. This is a solemn act. We swear when we take our oath that we will abide by the Constitution, we will protect the Constitution. This is something we are supposed to do.

Politically speaking, Secretary Mayorkas has been a disaster. If you could have a Mount Rushmore of worst Cabinet members in the history of the United States of America, he would be on that Mount Rushmore. Legally speaking, he has undermined the laws of the United States.

But before we get there, we actually have to have a trial. In no instance in the history of this great Republic--in 240-plus years--has this body, the world's greatest deliberative body ever, in the history of our country, dismissed or tabled Articles of Impeachment for someone who is still serving in office or alive. Let me repeat that: It has never happened.

To quote my colleague from New York who often says this: History is watching. Chuck Schumer, history is watching, because 200 years from now, God willing, in this Republic, people will be in our chairs. We don't know their names. They will be referring back to the precedent that is set in this Chamber to go down a road we have never gone down.

Vote how you want to vote based on the evidence, your point of view. Vote how you want to vote. But the idea that we would be setting this very dangerous precedent because Chuck Schumer doesn't want it in the news cycle for a couple of days is ridiculous. For my friends on both sides of the aisle that care about this place, this is, perhaps, the most dangerous act you could inflict upon us, short of blowing up the filibuster, to say that we are not going to hear the evidence; that we are not going to vote as Senators because we are afraid of a news cycle, which, by the way, would highlight the total and utter disaster that happens at our border.

Mr. President, 9 million people have come across illegally. I rise to point out just one aspect of that that is incredibly dangerous for this country--the number of Chinese nationals that are coming here. There have been 22,233 encounters of Chinese nationals crossing illegally at the northern and southern borders so far in fiscal year 2024. There were 24,125 encounters last year. To put that scale in perspective, there were just 342 apprehensions of Chinese nationals in 1987 and fiscal year 2022. That is a dramatic increase.

They are our greatest adversary. The 21st century will be defined by who wins this great power struggle. And if you don't think--there have been documented cases--that some of these folks are coming here to spy on us, including military installations, I have some oceanfront property in Missouri I would like to sell you.

Secretary Mayorkas, in his own memo, advocated for ignoring U.S. law. This is a big deal. Again, regardless of how you feel about how you are going to vote on this, my point of view is: There is a lot of evidence that could be presented and will be presented to show that he has purposefully undermined the sovereignty of the United States of America. That is a serious charge. The House of Representatives has voted to send that here. Let's hear it out. Let's do our constitutional duty. Let's not be afraid to do our jobs.

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