Washington——

House Speaker Mike Johnson will delay sending articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate this week as planned after Republican senators asked for more time on Tuesday to build support for a full trial.

The sudden change of plans casts new doubts over the entire process, which marks the historic first impeachment of a cabinet secretary in some 150 years. House Republicans impeached Mayorkas in February in an effort to condemn the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border but delayed sending the articles while they completed work on government funding legislation.

Johnson was scheduled to submit impeachment charges to the Senate on Wednesday night. But as it became clear that Democrats, who hold the House majority, had enough votes to quickly dismiss them, Senate Republicans asked Johnson to delay until next week. They hope this strategy will prolong the process.

While Republicans argued Tuesday that foregoing a full Senate trial would break with precedent, the majority came as former President Donald Trump was impeached for a second time on charges of inciting insurrection during a Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Israelis. Senate Republicans voted to do so. House of Parliament. Their efforts to stop the proceedings failed. Trump was ultimately acquitted in a Senate trial.

“Our members want the opportunity not just to debate but to vote on the issues they want to raise,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican leader. Under procedural rules, senators must convene as jurors for the trial the day after the articles of impeachment are delivered.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. New York Democrats denounced the impeachment push as a sham and said they still planned to quickly address the charges.

“We’re ready to go. We’re going to stick to our plan. We’re going to move as quickly as possible,” Schumer said.

“Impeachment should never be used to resolve policy differences,” he told reporters earlier Tuesday.

In two articles of impeachment, House Republicans accused Mayorkas of not only refusing to enforce existing laws but also of violating the public trust by lying to Congress and making claims about border security.

Democrats and some Republicans said the charges constituted a policy dispute rather than high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution.

“Ultimately, I think it’s almost certain that someone is not going to be convicted where the constitutional standards are not met,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

Still, as the election approaches, Republicans hope to force Congress to address the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border for as long as possible.

“I think there are a lot of Democrats who really want to avoid voting. I don’t blame them. I mean, this is the No. 1 issue on the American mind,” Thune said.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is facing a tough re-election bid in Ohio, noted that Republican senators rejected a bipartisan agreement aimed at reducing the number of illegal border crossings from Mexico.

“Why don’t we have a bipartisan border deal instead of having this impeachment — the first in 100 years?” Brown said.

Before Mayorkas, only one U.S. Cabinet official had been impeached. 1876 ​​Secretary of War William Belknap. A House investigation found evidence that he took kickbacks while managing government contracts.