Why senators are forced to only drink milk or water at Trump’s impeachment trial
- No coffee? Tired senators have two choices of drink and some confectionery, if they’re lucky
The US Senate imposes an ascetic existence on its members during an impeachment trial, but it does afford them one peculiar indulgence: milk.
Senators considering whether to remove US President Donald Trump from office can drink either milk or water while in the chamber during the trial – and nothing else, not even coffee. According to Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician and member of the Republican leadership, the little-known dairy exception was made decades ago to soothe lawmakers’ peptic ulcers.
“In the 50s, there was no medicine for ulcers but people would drink milk,” Cassidy says. “So the senators were allowed to drink milk because they had ulcers.”
The strict requirements on senators during the trial – they must be present, silent and without electronic devices – has put a spotlight on how they’re able to sustain themselves for hours on end on the Senate floor.
Republican Ted Cruz appeared to be the first to drink milk on the Senate floor late Tuesday as the chamber debated the trial rules, one of his aides said. Senators have to bring their own milk to the cloakroom, the aide added.
Since then, reporters have also spotted senators Tom Cotton and Richard Burr sipping on glasses of milk.