7:58 a.m.: Well, not so much “at this hour,” as C-SPAN suggested. After 40 minutes of “morning business,” the House is debating AMTRAK. Either C-SPAN was wrong or the schedule was altered a bit. I suspect it was the latter.
In the meantime, here’s a bit from CQ Politics on the politics of Kucinich’s impeachment effort:
Under House rules, the chamber must act on the measure within two days.
Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. , D-Mich., declined to say whether his committee would consider the articles.
Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , questioning whether impeachment hearings were the right use of time remaining on this year’s election-shortened calendar, defended Congress’ record on confronting Bush.
“This Congress, for the first time since this president has been in office, is holding him accountable, doing oversight in terms of Iraq and Afghanistan, domestic policy, and international civil liberties and civil rights,” said Hoyer, D-Md.
Although many view a referral to committee as a burial for the resolution, Kucinich insisted that “referring it to committee indicates that there should be hearings on this.”
He said the record to support impeachment is “so voluminous and well-documented” that hearings ought to be held.
Kucinich said he and his staff originally put together 60 articles of impeachment but cut that list to what he described as the “most powerful” allegations.
Of course, the real reason the Democrats are not moving to impeach Bush is because it is politically helpful to them to have him twisting in the wind with a 28 percent approval rating. They also fear that impeaching Bush could backfire on them the way impeaching Pres. Clinton backfired on the Republicans.
7:00 a.m.: At this hour, the House is preparing to vote on whether to send 35 bills of impeachment against George Bush to the Judiciary Committee. The session is being led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi herself, which is another sign that the measure will fail.
The bills were introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and include allegations that Bush and his top aides lied to the Congress and the American people about the reasons he was invading Iraq.
Buck just posted a finely honed, rhetorically nuanced op-ed piece on the allegations in the impeachment bills.
If the measure were to pass, the bills of impeachment would be sent to the Judiciary Committee for hearings.
Text of the complete Bill of Impeachment is here.
