House has pressing issue on last day before break — impeachment
By Dana Milbank, July 30 at 8:28 PM, WashPost
The House opened proceedings Wednesday with a chaplain’s prayer that lawmakers be granted “a double portion of wisdom and understanding.”
Even a side order of wisdom with a garnish of understanding would have been nice. But neither was on the menu.
The people’s representatives were hurrying to depart Thursday for their five-week summer vacation, but first they had some important business to complete. Emergency legislation to ease the crisis at the border? Funding to keep highway repairs going?
Afraid not. House Republicans were instead taking up their not-quite-impeachment legislation: a bill that would authorize the House to sue President Obama for violating the Constitution, which, by definition, is an impeachable offense.
House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) says he has no plans to pursue impeachment, but Republican leaders’ refusal to rule out the possibility has allowed the White House and Democrats in Congress to raise money by claiming the lawsuit is but a stalking horse for impeachment. The lawsuit idea was floated months ago as an alternative to the “impractical” notion of impeachment, for which several GOP backbenchers have clamored.
(More here.)
The House opened proceedings Wednesday with a chaplain’s prayer that lawmakers be granted “a double portion of wisdom and understanding.”
Even a side order of wisdom with a garnish of understanding would have been nice. But neither was on the menu.
The people’s representatives were hurrying to depart Thursday for their five-week summer vacation, but first they had some important business to complete. Emergency legislation to ease the crisis at the border? Funding to keep highway repairs going?
Afraid not. House Republicans were instead taking up their not-quite-impeachment legislation: a bill that would authorize the House to sue President Obama for violating the Constitution, which, by definition, is an impeachable offense.
House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) says he has no plans to pursue impeachment, but Republican leaders’ refusal to rule out the possibility has allowed the White House and Democrats in Congress to raise money by claiming the lawsuit is but a stalking horse for impeachment. The lawsuit idea was floated months ago as an alternative to the “impractical” notion of impeachment, for which several GOP backbenchers have clamored.
(More here.)
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