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17 December 1998

CONGRESSIONAL REPORT, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17

(Impeachment vote) (350)
HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO START IMPEACHMENT DEBATE DEC. 18
Impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, briefly delayed
after the United States launched military strikes against Iraq, are
back on track.
Republican leaders of the House of Representatives decided December 17
to open floor debate on the impeachment resolution the following day,
despite the fact that the air campaign is still in progress.
Democrats expressed strong opposition to the move, arguing that the
debate should be put off further, until U.S. armed forces have
completed their mission in the Gulf.
It was not clear late December 17 whether final House votes on the
four articles of impeachment sent forward by the House Judiciary
Committee would take place on December 18 or 19.
Leaders of the majority Republicans had proposed 18 hours of debate,
with a final vote to come on December 19. Irked by the Democratic
complaints, they decided to cut debate time to just one hour, starting
at 9:00 a.m. local time on December 18. But House Republican Leader
Richard Armey said he might still try to reach an agreement with
Democratic leaders for more debate time.
Prospects that the House would vote to impeach -- and so send the
matter to the Senate for trial -- continued to grow December 17, as at
least two more previously undeclared legislators said they would vote
to impeach. They are Representatives Heather Wilson of New Mexico and
Steve Horn of California, both Republicans.
Assuming the House sends the case forward, it would take a two-thirds
majority in the 100-member Senate actually to remove the president
from office. And with a party breakdown of 55 Republicans and 45
Democrats in the chamber, few observers believe that 67 votes for
impeachment can be put together on the divisive issue.
The charges against Clinton include perjury, obstruction of justice,
and abuse of power. They all relate to his actions in the aftermath of
what he admitted -- after months of denials -- was an "inappropriate
relationship" with Monica Lewinsky, starting when she was a White
House intern.