By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – At least two hardline Republicans plan to try to force the U.S. House to vote on whether to impeach Democratic President Joe Biden and members of his administration, despite objections from Chairman Kevin McCarthy. who fears that such measures could undermine congressional investigations.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is due to vote this week on a resolution to impeach Biden for allegedly violating his oath by failing to enforce immigration laws and securing the US-Mexico border from the synthetic opioid drug, fentanyl.
“Republicans need to stick together and get this man out of office for his dereliction of duty on the southern border,” the resolution’s author, Rep. Lauren Boebert, tweeted Wednesday.
The efforts are unlikely to advance in the House, which Republicans control by a narrow margin of 222 to 212 and where several Republicans have predicted opponents will have the votes to stop the measure from getting to the ground.
Some hardline Republicans have been eager to impeach Biden in retaliation after his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, was impeached twice by the then Democratic-controlled House, once over Ukraine and once for his actions. before January 6, 2021. , assault on the United States Capitol.
Senate Republicans in both cases acquitted Trump.
The House was scheduled to vote a second time Wednesday on a privileged resolution to censure Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who played a leading role in impeaching Trump in Ukraine. The measure, introduced by hardline Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, was defeated last week due to Republican opposition to the inclusion of a $16 million fine that has since been dropped.
Another hardliner, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, said she is planning resolutions to remove Biden, two members of his cabinet, FBI Director Christopher Wray and a U.S. attorney who is suing participants in the Capitol attack.
The development means new headaches for McCarthy, two weeks after a dozen hardliners shut down the House floor to protest his compromise debt ceiling deal with Biden.
McCarthy said he opposes a single vote to impeach Biden as the committee’s investigations into the president’s family business dealings and his administration are still ongoing.
“Throwing something on the floor actually harms the investigation that we’re doing right now,” McCarthy told reporters. “(It) isn’t fair to the American public without pleading and without arguing.”
White House spokesman Ian Sams on Twitter called the proposals “baseless political stunts.”
Greene, who has already introduced formal articles of impeachment against Biden and the other officials, told reporters that internal division is preventing Republicans from approving impeachment bills in the House Judiciary Committee.
Boebert presented her proposal as a so-called preferred resolution, subject to a vote within two legislative days, and Greene said she would consider a similar move.
“I convert them into privileged to use when I deem it necessary,” Greene said of his impeachment bills against Biden, Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the prosecutor. American Matthew Graves.
Greene was one of the few Republicans who expressed open support for Boebert’s impeachment resolution.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)