Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said the Senate impeachment trial should follow the precedent of former President Bill Clinton’s, giving the GOP enough votes to block the Democrats’ immediate demand for witnesses.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have sparred over the Democrats’ immediate demand for witnesses while attempting to set the parameters of the looming trial. The two reached an “impasse” prior to the holidays and have yet to settle their differences.

While McConnell, as well as other GOP senators, have signaled that they are open to witnesses, they believe the Senate should follow the precedent of Clinton’s impeachment trial and hear opening arguments before issuing subpoenas.

“The process moved to a period during which the Senate debated and voted that three witnesses should be deposed. I believe that this process — the Clinton approach — worked well,” Collins told reporters, according to the Hill.

Murkowski concurred.

“I think we need to do what they did the last time they did this unfortunate process and that was to go through a first phase and then they reassessed after that,” she said.

When asked about former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who stated on Monday that he would be willing to testify in the Senate trial in the event of a subpoena, Murkowski dismissed the questions as premature, citing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) failure to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

“I want to get to the first step. The first step is trying to get articles of impeachment which we haven’t gotten yet. So, there’s a lot of people that want to hear a lot of things, but you got to get to the first step first,” Murkowski said, according to Axios.

“I think it’s difficult to decide in isolation before we have heard the opening statements. … There are a number of witnesses that may well be appropriate for Stage 3, of which he would certainly be one,” Collins said.

The unification on the parameters of the Senate impeachment trial serves as a blow to Schumer and his left-wing colleagues, who needed at least four Republicans to join them in order to successfully pass an organizing resolution satisfying their witness demands.

“A simple majority is all it takes to ensure that the Senate issues a subpoena for these witness,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Monday.

“If only four Republicans decide that Mr. Bolton and the three other witnesses ought to be heard, they will be heard because every Democrat will vote to hear them,” he added.

Both Collins’ and Murkowski’s positions essentially solidify the Senate GOP’s upper hand moving forward.

All eyes remain on Pelosi, who has yet to signal when she will release the impeachment articles to the upper chamber. According to Fox News’s Chad Pergram, Pelosi may hold on to the articles until there is an agreement for Bolton to testify:

Fox is told from one Dem source that Pelosi may continue to hold up the articles of impeachment…until there is an agreement…potentially and specifically for Bolton to testify in the Senate. If Bolton is willing to testify, she may not be willing to send over the articles. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 6, 2020

McConnell, however, stated that the Senate will continue with “ordinary business” until the speaker transmits the articles.

“But we can’t hold a trial without the articles. The Senate’s own rules don’t provide for that. So, for now, we are content to continue the ordinary business of the Senate while House Democrats continue to flounder,” McConnell warned last week.

“But if they ever muster the courage to stand behind their slapdash work product and transmit their articles to the Senate, it will be time for the United States Senate to fulfill our founding purpose,” he added.