House tied in knots over resolution to impeach Cheney: Refers
Resolution 333
to Judiciary Committee
[image: 1b35f37e3aae4a27a58158a0ed84aef2]
<http://blogs.usatoday.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/20
07/11/06/1b35f37e3aae4a27a58158a0ed84aef2.jpg>Rep.
Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is trying to impeach Vice President Cheney
for
what he describes
<http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm>as "high
crimes and misdemeanors" before the invasion of Iraq.
Right after the proposal was read on the House floor this afternoon,
House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stepped forwarded and tried to convince
lawmakers to
table<http://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/table_motion_to.ht
m>the
bill.
"Impeachment is not on our agenda. We have some major priorities. We
need to
focus on those," Hoyer told Fox
News<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308738,00.html>
.
*Update at 3:39 p.m. ET:* We thought that the vote to table was over -
- the
clock said 0:00 -- but lawmakers are still switching things around and
Kucinich is within a few votes of getting his bill to come up for a
vote.
*Update at 3:43 p.m. ET:* At least 149 Republicans have voted in
favor of
considering the impeachment resolution. Hoyer's motion, which would
have
blocked a vote, looks like its going to fail by at least 31 votes.
*Update at 3:53 p.m. ET: *The 15-minute vote began at 2:53 p.m. ET.
It's
been an hour, and they're still voting. The tally stands at 170-242
right
now. Hoyer needed 218 votes to push the bill off the agenda. He's 72
votes
short.
*Update at 4:02 p.m. ET:* Hoyer's motion failed 251-162. The House is
now
voting on whether to vote on whether the resolution should be sent to
the
Judiciary Committee.
*Update at 4:25 p.m. ET:* The vote to decide to vote (yes, you read
that
correctly) just ended. By a 218-194 margin, the House has to vote on
whether
to send the resolution to the Judiciary Committee. That's happening
right
now.
*Update at 4:30 p.m. ET*: Perhaps we should pause to explain. When
most
Republicans unexpectedly -- and on orders of GOP leadership, the AP is
reporting -- switched sides and voted *against *tabling the measure,
they
essentially forced Democrats to keep talking about it on the floor.
Tabling
the measure would have killed it.
Debate over Cheney's impeachment is in direct opposition to House
Speaker
Nancy Pelosi's wishes. She has repeatedly said an impeachment of
Cheney or
President Bush is off the table. Thus, failing to table this measure
is a
essentially a jab in Pelosi's ribs.
"We're going to help them out, to explain themselves," Rep. Pete
Sessions,
R-Texas, told the AP of the impeachment's supporters. "We're going to
give
them their day in court."
*Update at 4:32 p.m. ET: *The House just voted, 218-194, to send the
resolution to the Judiciary Committee. That should end today's
debate -- but
it does keep the resolution at least technically alive.
*(File photo by Tim Sharp, AP.)*
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/11/house-tables-re.html
--
_________________________________
Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd
ICIS-Institute for Cooperation in Space
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