WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The House made history a month ago when lawmakers voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but a Senate trial has been on the back burner while Congress wraps up its spending procedure.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters during the House GOP’s retreat at the Greenbrier resort that the lower chamber hasn’t sent the impeachment articles to the Democrat-led Senate over fears that the move would derail the tenuous appropriations process.

“We’ve not sent it over yet, and the very simple answer for that and the reason for it is because we’re in the middle of funding the government and the appropriations process,” Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Thursday.

The speaker argued that if the House had sent the impeachment proceedings to the Senate, it would have used valuable floor time that should have been dedicated to finishing the fiscal 2024 spending cycle and “risked shutting the government down.”

“It will be done in due course, as soon as we wrap that process up, and I think the appropriations process is very close to being wound up,” Mr. Johnson said.

If or when the Democrat-led Senate gets around to a trial for Mr. Mayorkas, Republicans’ hopes to see the Biden official ousted will likely be quashed.

Congress has been locked in a spending debate for months, finally making headway to finish the fiscal 2024 appropriations process last week when lawmakers passed the first of two six-bill spending packages, called minibuses on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers will tackle the second package next week, a task that could prove more difficult, thanks to policy disagreements in portions of the package that include funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon and other agencies.

The text of the legislation is expected to drop over the weekend ahead of the March 22 deadline to fund the rest of the government.

Republicans will likely look to make a stand on border security in the DHS funding bill, clashing with Democrats pushing against so-called poison pill policy riders, like attaching the GOP’s marquee Secure the Border Act.

The Defense Department bill will also be a battleground where House Republicans will aim to attach anti-woke policy riders, like gutting diversity, equity and inclusion training in the military and nixing the Pentagon’s abortion travel reimbursement policy.

Again, Democrats will likely reject the conservative wish list.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said this week that the lawmakers who understand the spending process — one that requires compromise — are working to put a pin in the long process and avoid divisive policy riders.

“You win some, you lose some,” Ms. DeLauro, Connecticut Democrat, said.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.