Global Courant
The House voted Thursday to send an impeachment resolution against President Biden back to two House committees, a move that allowed GOP leaders to counter pressure from Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to immediately vote on impeachment.
Lawmakers voted 219 to 208 to return the issue to committee — every “yes” vote came from Republicans.
Boebert introduced a privileged resolution on the House floor Tuesday night to impeach Biden over the border crisis, and it seemed to catch members of her own party off guard. A privileged resolution allows lawmakers to force a vote on the House floor without going through committee, a move opposed by key Republicans because it bypasses the regular process.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the move “lighthearted” in comments to reporters on Wednesday. James Comer, chairman of the oversight committee, told Fox News Digital, “I wish she had gone about it a different way.”
EXCLUSIVE: BOEBERT INTRODUCES NEW CANCELLED ARTICLES AGAINST BIDEN ABOUT BORDER CRISIS
Representative Lauren Boebert earlier this week attempted to force the House to vote on impeaching President Biden (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
But Boebert and McCarthy managed to strike a deal, and the House Rules Committee, which creates procedural guardrails for every bill, drafted a rule to put the issue of impeachment in the hands of the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees.
The last-minute solution reflects lingering tensions between the House GOP leadership and a small group of hardliners who have managed to use McCarthy’s slim majority to advance their agenda and turn regular floor procedures into chaos when not meeting their demands. is fulfilled.
The speaker can only afford to lose four Republicans to pass legislation, assuming all Democrats oppose it.
Boebert called the resulting compromise with McCarthy to make impeachment procedural “historic” during remarks on the House floor before the vote.
GOP REP. OGLES INTRODUCES IMPULSE ARTICLES AGAINST BIDEN, HARRIS
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal with her Wednesday amid GOP grumbling over her bypassing the regular committee process (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“For the first time in 24 years, a Republican-led majority is moving forward with impeachment proceedings against a current president. This bill allows impeachment proceedings to be conducted through traditional institutional channels by building a body of evidence at the committee level, through the homeland security committees and the judiciary,” she said.
“Biden’s lawless disregard for our federal laws has prompted more than 5.5 illegal aliens to attempt to cross the border, overwhelm the Border Patrol and enable an invasion that truly harms the American people,” Boebert added. . “The Biden border crisis and massive wave of illegal immigration have led to a record-breaking fentanyl crisis since President Biden took office.”
IT’S TIME TO INSTALL JOE BIDEN IMPACT CHARGES
Democrats accused Republicans of weaponizing the impeachment process against the president. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., said the move “should disturb every patriotic American.”
Boebert wants to impeach Biden over the crisis on the southern border
“I cannot emphasize enough the solemnity and sadness I feel at this time to see the House so humiliated by the invocation of our gravest constitutional duty, the impeachment of a president,” she said. “Common sense rebels against the political grandeur and petty stunts allowed by the House majority. Days of attention wasted on the whims of an extremist minority.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said on the House floor: “They have a policy disagreement with President Biden. And their first impulse is not, ‘Let’s pass an immigration bill.’ Their first impulse is to depose him. Our founding fathers must turn in their graves.”
Elizabeth Elkind is a political reporter for Fox News Digital.
