Senators serving as impeachment jurors have been making an odd choice of drink while in the chamber for the trial: milk.
Under an obscure congressional rule, lawmakers on the Senate floor are only allowed to drink milk or water, greatly limiting the menu available to them throughout President Trump’s impeachment trial — and some are actually turning to the calcium-rich beverage.
“It’s true, I had some milk with my chocolate,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted Wednesday evening, also making reference to the Senate candy desk.
“I guess I could’ve added vodka & had a White Russian (minus the Kahlua). But @RepAdamSchiff probably would’ve accused me of collusion,” he added jokingly.
Others including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Richard Burr (R-NC) were also seen choosing to enjoy some milk while listening to arguments on the Senate floor.
Cruz’s deputy chief of staff, Sam Cooper, confirmed in a tweet Wednesday that the Texas Republican had a glass of milk at midnight Tuesday.
“Cruz enjoyed a cool glass at midnight last night,” Cooper wrote, adding, “Fun fact: the Senators have to provide their own milk to the Cloakroom (they keep it cold for you tho).”
The deep-cut rule appears to date to a 1966 hearing in which then-Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) requested a “tall glass of milk” for “lunch,” transcripts show.
“Is it in violation of the Senate rules if the Senator from Illinois asks one of the page boys to go to the restaurant and bring him a glass of milk?” Dirksen asked in the exchange. “If it is in violation of the rules I will forget it.”
Fortunately for Dirksen, the presiding officer affirmed, “There is nothing in the rules to prohibit the Senator from requesting a glass of milk.”
A former Senate parliamentarian also told a CNN reporter that the rule started in 1966, but said it allowed senators suffering from ulcers to drink milk in addition to water.
That parliamentarian said there was no other treatment at the time for the condition besides drinking milk.