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Democrats Split as House to Vote on Whether to Consider Impeachment
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=51181"><span class="small">Rachael Bade and Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post</span></a>   
Wednesday, 17 July 2019 12:47

Excerpt: "Democrats are divided over how to deal with articles of impeachment against President Trump, as the House headed toward a vote Wednesday that will gauge support for ousting him."

Rep. Al Green of Texas has introduced a resolution to impeach president Trump. (photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Rep. Al Green of Texas has introduced a resolution to impeach president Trump. (photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)


Democrats Split as House to Vote on Whether to Consider Impeachment

By Rachael Bade and Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post

17 July 19

 

emocrats are divided over how to deal with articles of impeachment against President Trump, as the House headed toward a vote Wednesday that will gauge support for ousting him.

Rep. Al Green (D-Tex.) forced Democratic leaders to confront the issue immediately, filing articles of impeachment Tuesday night accusing Trump of committing high crimes and misdemeanors with racist comments singling out four minority congresswomen. His resolution on impeachment is privileged, requiring that the House act within two days.

“It’s time for us to deal with his bigotry. This president has demonstrated that he’s willing to yell fire in a crowded theater, and we have seen what can happen to people when bigotry is allowed to have a free rein,” Green told reporters Wednesday. “We all ought to go on record. We all ought to let the world know where we stand when we have a bigot in the White House.”

But the effort is likely to fail as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has been reluctant to launch an impeachment inquiry, is expected to use a procedural vote to table, or effectively kill, the resolution.

“With all the respect in the world for Mr. Green … we have six committees who are working on following the facts in terms of any abuse of power, obstruction of justice and the rest … that is the serious path that we are on,” Pelosi told reporters.

Any vote is politically fraught for Democrats as the party’s liberal base clamors for Trump’s impeachment, and several 2020 presidential candidates call on the House to move swiftly to force him out of office. So far, 86 House members favor launching an impeachment inquiry, though several were reluctant to endorse Green’s effort.

Rather than tabling the resolution, a number of Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee would prefer that the House vote on referring the articles of impeachment to their panel.

“If you are of conscience and see what is happening … one would have to vote to refer, and not to table,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.)

But Democratic leaders are wary of headlines suggesting that Democrats are moving toward trying to oust Trump and worry that “referring” to committee may be spun by Republicans as a step in that direction.

Others find Green’s timing peculiar. Former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is scheduled to testify next week before two House committees on his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump obstructed justice, a session that lawmakers have been seeking for months.

House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Wednesday that the House is not ready to debate whether to impeach Trump.

“We may not ever be, but we aren’t yet,” he said.

Clyburn invoked Watergate in adding, “I think history’s very instructive. And I think it was John Dean’s testimony, Alexander Butterfield’s testimony. We never got to the point of impeaching [Richard] Nixon. We didn’t need to because we did good investigative work.”

It’s not the first time that Green has put the Democratic caucus in a bind over impeaching Trump. In the last Congress, with Republicans in charge, Green twice forced votes on the divisive issue, making his colleagues go on the record.

Pelosi could face tricky math if she decides to refer the resolution to committee. While Republicans will vote to table — effectively killing the impeachment articles — they will probably oppose a move to refer the resolution to the Judiciary Committee. That means Pelosi will have to rely on her caucus to refer the matter to committee, and some Democrats may be reluctant to take that vote, either because they want impeachment now or are afraid of blowback from constituents.

Conversely, if she moves to table the resolution and has to carry that vote on the backs of Republicans, with less than a majority of her caucus moving to kill the resolution, she and fellow leaders could face pushback from the base.

Pelosi declined to say what would happen.

“That will be up to the floor team,” she said when asked about the Green resolution. “When the legislative plan comes out, you will see what it is.”

Read more at PowerPost

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