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House GOP Forces Complete Reading of Impeachment Resolution

By Molly K. Hooper / CQ Politics

In an effort to highlight the time they say Democrats are wasting, House Republicans will make the clerk read every word of Dennis J. Kucinich ’s resolution seeking to impeach President Bush.

But not until the very end of the day.

Rather than let Tuesday’s floor action be interrupted, Democratic and Republican leaders quietly agreed to let the chamber get all of its other work done before anything happens with Kucinich’s impeachment effort. Then, at the end of the day, the Ohio Democrat will call up his articles of impeachment and Democrats will refrain from making a routine request to waive the reading of the document.

At one point in the discussion, Republicans were threatening to refuse to agree to have just the title and not the full document read out loud. That would have interrupted the entire floor schedule if it happened during the usual time of day for such motions.

“He’s wasting his time, he’s wasting our time, he’s preventing things from getting done that need to be done, so we require them to read it on the floor today to say to them, by God, if you want to waste our time, go ahead and do it,” said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.

Gingrey said he was unhappy because he had arranged to give a speech paying tribute to a fallen soldier but instead that soldier’s parents would be listening to the recitation of the impeachment document.

Encore Reading

On Monday night, Kucinich spent about 4 hours and 30 minutes reading the full impeachment text into the Congressional Record. He argues that Bush abused his power “to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq.”

Kucinich offered the articles as a privileged resolution — a high-priority status that will require the House to act in some way within two days.

After the clerk reads it again, Kucinich said he intends to move to refer his measure to the Judiciary Committee — the committee that has not acted on his previous articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney (H Res 333, H Res 799).

Democratic leaders said they will schedule a Wednesday vote on Kucinich’s motion to refer the measure to committee.