WASHINGTON — Republican leaders said Tuesday that the House of Representatives is likely to vote on a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden next week — the last week the chamber is scheduled to be in session before lawmakers recess for the holidays.
There was little chance a vote could happen this week, but Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., both said the vote — if it happens — would take place “next week” when leaders left a closed meeting of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
On September 12, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched an impeachment inquiry into Biden over his family’s business dealings after Republicans, with their slim majority, admitted they did not have the votes to make the decision.
But Republicans are frustrated by the White House’s argument that they don’t have to comply with some subpoenas because the House of Representatives has not formally voted to authorize an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who was a constitutional lawyer before entering Congress, and other Republicans now say they must hold that vote to be able to challenge the White House in court, even though Biden officials say nothing of the Republican Party’s investigation supported the president’s accusation of wrongdoing.
“ We have come to this like of tilting point because the White House is gumming this disquisition. to hand over key witnesses to testify because they have been subpoenaed. They are refusing to turn over thousands of documents from the National Libraries,” Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday.
” And the House has no choice if it’s going to follow its indigenous duty to formally accept an indictment inquiry on the bottom, so when processes are challenged in court, we’re at the height of our constitutional authority.”
“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden,” the speaker continued. ” This is a vote to hold on the indictment inquiry, and it’s a necessary indigenous step.”
The new comments come as leaders predict growing confidence that they have enough votes to formally launch an impeachment inquiry. Several vulnerable moderates who previously expressed serious reservations about an impeachment inquiry now say they support it because of the White House’s intransigence.
“When the White House now says they don’t have to release certain information because there’s no official request, then we need a request,” said moderate Congressman Don Bacon, R-Neb., who is one of 17 vulnerable Republicans representing districts won by Biden in 2020.
