A hasty impeachment vote likely would have failed on the floor, infuriated conservative activists and exposed divisions in the already fragile GOP majority.
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to send a resolution to impeach President Joe Biden to a pair of committees, delaying a vote that has created massive headaches for Speaker Kevin McCarthy and sparked a nasty round of GOP infighting.
The 219-208 party-line vote came after Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a conservative hard-liner, huddled with McCarthy on Wednesday night and agreed to forgo her push to force an impeachment vote this week. Boebert’s resolution was “privileged,” meaning it would have had to receive a floor vote within days without a deal with leadership.
By referring the matter to two committees — Homeland Security and Judiciary — Republicans headed off a hasty impeachment vote that likely would have failed on the floor, infuriated conservative activists and exposed divisions in the already fragile GOP majority.
But Thursday’s action only delays what many see as an inevitable vote in the coming months on whether to impeach Biden. Boebert has threatened to file a “privileged resolution every day for the rest of my time here in Congress” unless the committees move rapidly to take up impeachment.
McCarthy and other Republicans had argued that a quick impeachment vote would be “premature” if it took place before Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrap up their sprawling investigations into Biden, his family and his administration.
The Constitution states that a president can be impeached and removed from office for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Boebert’s impeachment resolution calls for Biden to be impeached for failing to secure the southern border with Mexico — actions that she said have led to violent crime and the fentanyl crisis.
“Since his first day in office, President Biden has trampled on the Constitution through his dereliction of duty under Article Two, to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Boebert said in a floor speech.
“Instead of enforcing our immigration laws, he has lawlessly ignored them,” she said.
Top Democrats argued that House Republicans’ actions this week demonstrated the GOP is beholden to “MAGA extremism” and Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Republicans voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of Trump’s fiercest critics, for his role in investigations into the former president.
“House Republicans are focused on their extremism and their conspiracy theories and bending the knee to Donald Trump,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday.
“House Republicans have no agenda, no vision, no plan to deal with the economy, job creation, health care, gun safety or anything that matters to the American people,” he said, “and that’s what this week once again shows.”