Talk has begun of a possible censure of former President Donald Trump after Senate Republicans signaled last week that they were unlikely to vote to convict him for inciting the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol. 

The Senate Tuesday defeated, on a 55 to 45 vote, a motion from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) to dismiss Trump's Senate impeachment trial because he argued it is unconstitutional to try a president no longer in office. 

The 55, which included all Democrats and five Republicans, is 12 GOP members shy of the 67 needed to convict in the trial, sparking interest in possibly censuring Trump. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), said they are working on a resolution. But it’s unclear whether Senate Democratic leaders, who remain focused on holding the trial, would bring it to the floor.

When asked whether they would support a censure resolution, Nevada’s House and Senate Democrats said they would consider it. But all stressed that there must be accountability for Trump.

“I voted to impeach Donald Trump because he committed the high crime and misdemeanor of inciting an insurrection against the United States,” Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) said of the vote she cast on Jan. 13.

“The Senate should hold him accountable for threatening the foundation of our republic,” Titus continued. “If Republican Senators resort to cowardice and vote to acquit despite the overwhelming evidence, I will consider other options at that time.”

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), the only GOP lawmaker in the congressional delegation, said, through his office, that he’d comment if it ever comes to a vote. He stressed that he did not support Trump's impeachment, in part, over concerns about due process for the former president. Trump was impeached by the House one week after the riot.

Congressional Democrats, also last week, geared up for a partisan push on a $1.9 trillion COVID-aid package if a deal cannot soon be struck with enough Senate Republicans to pass the measure.

Last week also saw the Senate approve the nominations of former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to serve as treasury secretary and Antony Blinken to serve as secretary of state. Both Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) voted for those nominations. 

The House was not in session last week.

Impeachment

Cortez Masto and Rosen both voted with all Democrats and five Republicans to dismiss Paul’s resolution. Cortez Masto has said she believes it is constitutional to try a former officeholder.

It’s a question that each member of the Senate must weigh and a key issue that will be litigated in the trial. The consensus among legal scholars is that there is precedent for impeaching a former officeholder, according to the  Congressional Research Service (CRS), Congress' research branch. 

The vote came after the Senate GOP was briefed by George Washington University legal scholar Jonathan Turley, who argued that it is unconstitutional.

Asked if Turley's presentation had any effect on how Republicans voted, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said, “I think it reinforced what a lot of people thought, I don’t know if it changed any minds.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), one of the five Republicans who voted with Democrats to kill the Paul motion, told reporters that the presentation did not change his mind. Romney believes that it is constitutional because the House impeached Trump while he was in office.

“Both sides of the argument were presented, and I reached the same conclusion, which is I believe it's constitutional to proceed with a trial of impeachment once the president is out of office,” Romney said. “That would be in pretty narrow circumstances. I believe the impeachment itself would have to be made while the president was in office, meaning that the House impeachment articles would have to be drafted and voted upon in the House before someone left office.” 

But the majority of the GOP did not share Romney's rationale. Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) said the vote shows that Republicans believe that Congress' constitutional authority is weak, at best. However, he stressed that Republicans intend to listen to the evidence presented before deciding whether to convict.

“I think that most of our members sort of fell on the side of we questioned the constitutionality of being able to do this to a private citizen,” Thune told reporters. “I know some people may say it's a technicality, but it's a pretty big issue and precedent that we will be setting if we do try somebody who's left office.” 

“But I don't think this changes anything,” Thune continued. “I think there are enough of our members who have said they're going, as a juror, are going to weigh the evidence and come to a conclusion at that time. But I think this was indicative of where a lot of people's heads are.”

Nevertheless, the signal sent by the vote—that there are not enough Republicans who will vote with all Democrats to convict Trump—spurred talk of censuring Trump. 

But it’s unclear if that would come in lieu of a trial or after a trial. Kaine said last week it could come after, but he is skeptical that there will be an appetite to talk about Trump after the trial.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), last week, stressed that there would be a Senate impeachment trial.

Cortez Masto and Rosen said they are both focused on being jurors in the impeachment trial but would consider options after the trial. 

“Former President Trump needs to be held responsible for his actions to sow distrust in our free and fair election and disrupt the sacred tradition of a peaceful transfer of power.” Cortez Masto said in a comment provided by her office. “Right now, I’m focused on fulfilling my constitutional duty during the impeachment trial, but I will continue to look at Senator Kaine’s proposal should additional steps be necessary to ensure accountability.” 

Rosen echoed Cortez Masto and said her office is also looking at Kaine’s proposal. “No President has been censured since before the Civil War,” Rosen said through her office. “Whether we ensure justice through an impeachment trial or censure, there must be accountability for the attack on Congress.”

Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nevada) said that it would be up to the Senate to decide Trump’s fate on impeachment, but that she too would consider censure if it comes to that.

Trump “should absolutely be held accountable, whether that’s through conviction in the Senate or through censure,” Lee said through her office. “I voted for impeachment in the House, and now whatever happens next is up to the Senate.” 

Rep. Steven Horford (D-Nevada), through his office, said, “I believe that Donald Trump and all those who worked to incite insurrection against our Capitol must be held accountable.”

The Senate also approved, 83 to 17, an agreement to delay the start of the trial until Feb. 9. That gives House prosecutors and Trump’s legal time until Feb. 8 to prepare their cases. Both Cortez Masto and Rosen voted to lock in the deal.  

COVID aid

Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said Thursday that the House would vote on the budget resolution next week. Approval of the House spending blueprint is the first step needed to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-relief proposal through the reconciliation process. Reconciliation allows passage of tax and spending legislation in the Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes typically needed to overcome a filibuster.

The prospect of reconciliation comes as Nevada is suffering from the nation's second-highest unemployment rate, 9.2 percent in December. It also comes as the U.S. Department of Labor reported that nearly 112,000 initial Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) filed claims to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) last week. That’s more than a quarter of 426,856 PUA claims filed nationwide last week. Many claims are suspected by DETR to be fraudulent. The PUA program helps the self-employed and gig workers who are not entitled to unemployment assistance.

Schumer also indicated that the Senate would likely take up its budget resolution next week. 

Steps toward a reconciliation package come as Pelosi, Schumer and Biden have said that they would prefer to try to win Republican support for a package but do not intend to wait long for that to come about. Programs established to help the unemployed, including PUA, expire in March. 

Pelosi said Thursday that ramping up the process could help a group of eight Republican and eight Democratic senators who have been working with the White House to agree. 

“We have to be ready,” Pelosi said when asked about reconciliation. “I do think we have more leverage getting cooperation on the other side if we have an alternative.”

But one member of the group, Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana), said that pursuing reconciliation would trigger a backlash among Republicans and dismissed Pelosi’s comments as partisan bluster. 

“Look, I still hold out some hope that President Biden means what he said before he was sworn in, which is that he wants to unify this country and unify it through its elected representatives here in Congress,” Young said. “I don't have much faith that Nancy Pelosi wants to do the same.”

Miscellany 

The Senate is nearing an organizing resolution, which will allow new senators to get committee assignments and seat Democrats as chairs of each committee. 

Once the resolution is approved, it will cause a shakeup in the committee rosters, which currently favor Republicans, who had the majority last legislative session.

Cortez Masto is currently the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s Economic Policy Subcommittee and on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Water and Power Subcommittee. She could become chair of those two panels, but nothing is set until the organizing resolution is agreed to and implemented.

Talks on an organizing resolution between Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) had stalled over McConnell’s demand that he get an assurance that Democrats would not act to weaken the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation. But McConnell relented after two Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, said they would not support action on the filibuster.

Also, Rosen spoke on the Senate floor last week in support of the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas, who would be the first Latino and first immigrant, to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

“Whether it’s combating extremism, foreign or domestic terrorism, cyber-attacks, or adversaries from abroad, Mr. Mayorkas expressed a clear commitment to keeping our nation safe and is fully prepared and qualified to serve as the head of DHS,” Rosen said. “I will vote for Ali Mayorkas, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.” 

Republicans have been outspoken about their opposition to Mayorkas stemming from his previous stint as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services between 2009 and 2013. 

According to an investigation by the DHS Inspector General released in 2015, Mayorkas showed favoritism to three projects under the EB-5 visa program, including a Las Vegas casino project pushed by former Sen. Harry Reid.

The casino project in question was the SLS Hotel and Casino and involved about 230 investors. 

Mayorkas intervened at Reid’s behest for an expedited review of the investor's petition “notwithstanding the career staff’s original decision not to do so,” the report said. 

Mayorkas “also took the extraordinary step of requiring his staff to brief Sen. Reid’s staff on a weekly basis for several months,” the report said.

The EB-5 program allows foreign nationals to invest between $500,000 and $1 million in U.S.-based projects. Among the program’s criteria: the project must create at least 10 full-time jobs to render investors eligible to receive legal residency for themselves, their spouses and minor children.

Mayorkas was never found to have broken any laws and rejected the idea that he gave any preference.

“When I had the authority and therefore the responsibility, to fix problems, I fixed problems through the cases that the agency handled,” Mayorkas said at his confirmation hearing last week. “Three cases that are cited in the inspector general’s report are three of hundreds and hundreds of cases that I became involved in at the request of the senators and members of the House of Representatives on both sides of the aisle.”

Asked about Mayorkas’ work for Reid, Rosen said, in a statement from her office, that “Mr. Mayorkas addressed these allegations under oath during his confirmation hearing.”

Last week, Cortez Masto, at an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, received assurances from former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s choice to lead the Department of Energy (DOE), not push to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.  

Granholm added that the White House intends to find alternatives to Yucca and that DOE supports a bill Cortez Masto and Rosen plan to re-introduce that would require consent from states— including Nevada—to build a nuclear waste dump within its borders. Consent would also be needed from affected local governments and Indian tribes. 

Granholm also assured Cortez Masto that DOE would continue to abide by an agreement brokered by Cortez Masto in April 2019 and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry to remove plutonium shipped to the state by 2026. 

“The plan is to follow the agreement that you negotiated,” Granholm said.

The shipment, a half metric ton of plutonium to Nevada from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, was disclosed early in 2019 as part of Nevada's lawsuit to prevent any such shipment after talks with DOE yielded no resolution. 

For a full rundown of the measures the delegates supported or opposed this week, check out The Nevada Independent’s congressional vote tracker and other information below.

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO

Legislation co-sponsored:

S.142 – A bill to prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

S.130 – A bill to extend to the Mayor of the District of Columbia the same authority over the National Guard of the District of Columbia as the Governors of the several States exercise over the National Guard of those States with respect to administration of the National Guard and its use to respond to natural disasters and other civil disturbances, and for other purposes.

S.96 – A bill to provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities, and for other purposes.

S.90 – A bill to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to repeal the authority of the President to assume emergency control of the police of the District of Columbia.

S.57 – A bill to increase the ability of nursing facilities to access to telehealth services and obtain technologies to allow virtual visits during the public health emergency relating to an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and for other purposes.

S.51 – A bill to provide for the admission of the State of Washington, D.C. into the Union.

SEN. JACKY ROSEN

Legislation sponsored:

S.122 – A bill to provide a credit against payroll taxes to businesses and nonprofit organizations that purchase or upgrade ventilation and air filtration systems to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne communicable diseases.

S.121 – A bill to amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish demonstration and pilot projects to facilitate education and training programs in the field of advanced manufacturing.

S.94 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide the work opportunity tax credit with respect to hiring veterans who are receiving educational assistance under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or Defense.

Legislation co-sponsored:

S.142 – A bill to prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

S.120 – A bill to prevent and respond to the misuse of communications services that facilitates domestic violence and other crimes.

S.115 – A bill to direct the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study and submit to Congress a report on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the travel and tourism industry in the United States, and for other purposes.

S.96 – A bill to provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities, and for other purposes.

S.72 – A bill to require full funding of part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

S.57 – A bill to increase the ability of nursing facilities to access to telehealth services and obtain technologies to allow virtual visits during the public health emergency relating to an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and for other purposes.

S.53 – A bill to provide for increases in the Federal minimum wage, and for other purposes.

S.51 – A bill to provide for the admission of the State of Washington, D.C. into the Union.

REP. DINA TITUS

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.R. 604 – To provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities, and for other purposes.

H.R. 603 – To provide for increases in the Federal minimum wage, and for other purposes.

H.R. 572 – To establish the National Office of New Americans within the Executive Office of the President, and for other purposes.

H.R. 571 – To improve United States consideration of, and strategic support for, programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence beginning with the onset of humanitarian emergencies, to build the capacity of humanitarian assistance to address the immediate and long-term challenges resulting from such violence, and for other purposes.

H.R. 556 – To prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

REP. MARK AMODEI

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.R. 619 – To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.

H.R. 543 – To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land, and for other purposes.

REP. SUSIE LEE

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.R. 604 – To provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities, and for other purposes.

H.R. 7 – To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.

H.Con. Res. 9 – Honoring the life and legacy of United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick.

REP. STEVEN HORSFORD

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.R. 616 – To prohibit water shutoffs during the COVID-19 emergency period, provide drinking and waste water assistance to households, and for other purposes.

H.R. 615 – To provide a payroll credit for certain fixed expenses of employers subject to closure by reason of COVID-19.

H.R. 604 – To provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities, and for other purposes.

H.R. 603 – To provide for increases in the Federal minimum wage, and for other purposes.

H.R. 602 – To provide State and local workforce and career and technical education systems with support to respond to the COVID-19 national emergency.

H.R. 574 – To require the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct outreach to inform certain individuals of their potential eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, and for other purposes.

H.R. 572 – To establish the National Office of New Americans within the Executive Office of the President, and for other purposes.

H.R. 556 – To prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

H.R. 503 – To require $20 notes to include a portrait of Harriet Tubman, and for other purposes.