A couple of weeks before the midterm elections, Kevin McCarthy assured voters that House Republicans, if given the majority, wouldn’t be so rash as to go on an impeachment binge.
“I think the country doesn’t like impeachment used for political purposes at all,” he told Punchbowl News at the time. “I think the country wants to heal,” he added, and avowed that he didn’t think anybody in the Biden administration merited impeachment proceedings.
The voters gave Republicans a chance, awarded them narrow control of the House.
And now Republicans are starting their impeachment binge.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) rose in the House Tuesday evening after the last vote. “For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Colorado seek recognition?” asked the presiding officer, Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.).
The gentlewoman sought recognition to unveil a parliamentary maneuver that would force a vote within 48 hours on H. Res. 503, “Impeaching Joseph R. Biden Jr., president of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.”
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No impeachment proceedings. No investigation. No evidence. No crimes. Not so much as parking ticket. Just a willy-nilly, snap vote to impeach the president, because Boebert dislikes Biden’s immigration policies. In her mind, “President Biden has intentionally facilitated a complete and total invasion at the southern border,” she charged on the House floor.
At this, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) flew into a fit of jealousy because Boebert had thought to use the maneuver (called a “privileged resolution”) to force an impeachment vote before Greene got a vote on her articles of impeachment against Biden. Boebert stole her impeachment articles, Greene whined to reporters, calling Boebert that name that every kindergartner fears: “Copycat.”
Congresswoman Jewish Space Lasers then confronted Boebert on the House floor and called her a “little b----” who “copied my articles of impeachment,” according to a Daily Beast account that Greene confirmed.
But Boebert was unmoved — because she’s on a mission from God. She filed her impeachment resolution because “I am directed and led by Him … by the spirit of God,” she told the evangelical Victory Channel.
God could not be reached for comment.
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McCarthy, in a closed-door meeting with Republicans Wednesday morning, pleaded with them to oppose Boebert’s flash-mob impeachment. “What majority do we want to be?” he admonished them, warning that Republicans might “give it right back in two years” if impeachment mania prevails. He eventually persuaded Boebert to accept a watered-down resolution delaying an impeachment vote by first sending it through the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.
On the floor, Boebert exulted. “For the first time in 24 years, a House Republican-led majority is moving forward with impeachment proceedings against a current president,” she said. “This bill allows impeachment proceedings to proceed.”
Her GOP colleagues made clear on the floor that they saw this vote to be teeing up eventual impeachment for this “corrupt” head of the “Biden crime family syndicate” who is responsible for the “murders of countless Americans.” Vowed Rep. Chip Roy (Tex.), the Republican floor leader for the impeachment debate, “We are just beginning.”
Enduring derision from the Democratic side — “nutty,” “pathetic,” “losers” — House Republicans voted, unanimously, for what will, in effect, be the beginning of impeachment proceedings against Biden.
Boebert’s stunt, along with a general Republican thirst for vengeance after an independent prosecutor secured a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump, has opened the impeachment floodgates. Greene and others can now be expected to play with their new toy, using the privileged-resolution maneuver to force impeachment votes against whatever Biden administration official looks at them crossways on any given day. Greene alone has introduced impeachment articles against Biden, the attorney general, the FBI director, the secretary of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney in Washington. On Thursday, Greene and GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) introduced resolutions to “expunge” Trump’s two impeachments.
As usual, McCarthy has only himself to blame for the chaos. The whole thing started last week when freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced a “privileged resolution” to censure Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) as payback for his work on Trump’s first impeachment. A responsible leader would have quashed such petty vindictiveness, but McCarthy’s leadership team threw its support behind the censure resolution and helped rewrite it so that it would pass — which it did, Wednesday evening (although a couple of bright lights thought they had voted to “censor” Schiff).
The result is bedlam in the House. Right-wing saboteurs had already shut the entire House down for a week in a symbolic protest. Moderate Republicans (there are a few) then retaliated by defeating the saboteurs’ legislation. And now every member has license to hijack the House to pursue vendettas with privileged resolutions.
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McCarthy had tried to stall his caucus’s drive for impeachment by setting House committee chairmen loose to launch a series of overlapping probes into whatever catches their fancy. At least three committees are investigating Hunter Biden. At least three committees are auditioning impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. At least three committees are probing imagined “censorship” of social media by the administration. Multiple committees are pursuing fanciful conspiracy theories involving public health officials and the supposed “weaponization” of the FBI, the Justice Department and the rest of the government by the “deep state.” And, of course, the committees investigate anybody — Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg — who investigates Trump.
Exit polls in the midterms showed voters cared most about inflation and abortion, followed by guns, crime and immigration. Yet the House majority just passed a bill to expand access to a common mass-shooting weapon and is now moving tax cuts that would aggravate inflation.
There’s talk that House Republicans next month will take up bills further restricting abortion access — that is, if they can find time between impeachment votes.
“I think the country doesn’t like impeachment used for political purposes at all,” he told Punchbowl News at the time. “I think the country wants to heal,” he added, and avowed that he didn’t think anybody in the Biden administration merited impeachment proceedings.
The voters gave Republicans a chance, awarded them narrow control of the House.
And now Republicans are starting their impeachment binge.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) rose in the House Tuesday evening after the last vote. “For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Colorado seek recognition?” asked the presiding officer, Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.).
The gentlewoman sought recognition to unveil a parliamentary maneuver that would force a vote within 48 hours on H. Res. 503, “Impeaching Joseph R. Biden Jr., president of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.”
ADVERTISING
No impeachment proceedings. No investigation. No evidence. No crimes. Not so much as parking ticket. Just a willy-nilly, snap vote to impeach the president, because Boebert dislikes Biden’s immigration policies. In her mind, “President Biden has intentionally facilitated a complete and total invasion at the southern border,” she charged on the House floor.
At this, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) flew into a fit of jealousy because Boebert had thought to use the maneuver (called a “privileged resolution”) to force an impeachment vote before Greene got a vote on her articles of impeachment against Biden. Boebert stole her impeachment articles, Greene whined to reporters, calling Boebert that name that every kindergartner fears: “Copycat.”
Congresswoman Jewish Space Lasers then confronted Boebert on the House floor and called her a “little b----” who “copied my articles of impeachment,” according to a Daily Beast account that Greene confirmed.
But Boebert was unmoved — because she’s on a mission from God. She filed her impeachment resolution because “I am directed and led by Him … by the spirit of God,” she told the evangelical Victory Channel.
God could not be reached for comment.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
McCarthy, in a closed-door meeting with Republicans Wednesday morning, pleaded with them to oppose Boebert’s flash-mob impeachment. “What majority do we want to be?” he admonished them, warning that Republicans might “give it right back in two years” if impeachment mania prevails. He eventually persuaded Boebert to accept a watered-down resolution delaying an impeachment vote by first sending it through the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.
On the floor, Boebert exulted. “For the first time in 24 years, a House Republican-led majority is moving forward with impeachment proceedings against a current president,” she said. “This bill allows impeachment proceedings to proceed.”
Her GOP colleagues made clear on the floor that they saw this vote to be teeing up eventual impeachment for this “corrupt” head of the “Biden crime family syndicate” who is responsible for the “murders of countless Americans.” Vowed Rep. Chip Roy (Tex.), the Republican floor leader for the impeachment debate, “We are just beginning.”
Enduring derision from the Democratic side — “nutty,” “pathetic,” “losers” — House Republicans voted, unanimously, for what will, in effect, be the beginning of impeachment proceedings against Biden.
Boebert’s stunt, along with a general Republican thirst for vengeance after an independent prosecutor secured a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump, has opened the impeachment floodgates. Greene and others can now be expected to play with their new toy, using the privileged-resolution maneuver to force impeachment votes against whatever Biden administration official looks at them crossways on any given day. Greene alone has introduced impeachment articles against Biden, the attorney general, the FBI director, the secretary of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney in Washington. On Thursday, Greene and GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) introduced resolutions to “expunge” Trump’s two impeachments.
As usual, McCarthy has only himself to blame for the chaos. The whole thing started last week when freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced a “privileged resolution” to censure Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) as payback for his work on Trump’s first impeachment. A responsible leader would have quashed such petty vindictiveness, but McCarthy’s leadership team threw its support behind the censure resolution and helped rewrite it so that it would pass — which it did, Wednesday evening (although a couple of bright lights thought they had voted to “censor” Schiff).
The result is bedlam in the House. Right-wing saboteurs had already shut the entire House down for a week in a symbolic protest. Moderate Republicans (there are a few) then retaliated by defeating the saboteurs’ legislation. And now every member has license to hijack the House to pursue vendettas with privileged resolutions.
ADVERTISING
McCarthy had tried to stall his caucus’s drive for impeachment by setting House committee chairmen loose to launch a series of overlapping probes into whatever catches their fancy. At least three committees are investigating Hunter Biden. At least three committees are auditioning impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. At least three committees are probing imagined “censorship” of social media by the administration. Multiple committees are pursuing fanciful conspiracy theories involving public health officials and the supposed “weaponization” of the FBI, the Justice Department and the rest of the government by the “deep state.” And, of course, the committees investigate anybody — Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg — who investigates Trump.
Exit polls in the midterms showed voters cared most about inflation and abortion, followed by guns, crime and immigration. Yet the House majority just passed a bill to expand access to a common mass-shooting weapon and is now moving tax cuts that would aggravate inflation.
There’s talk that House Republicans next month will take up bills further restricting abortion access — that is, if they can find time between impeachment votes.
