House punts on GOP hardliners’ Biden impeachment push — for now

A band of conservative hardliners on Thursday forced their House GOP colleagues into a divisive debate on whether to impeach President Joe Biden. And it won’t be the last time they do it.

This first push — led by firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), against the wishes of Speaker Kevin McCarthy — fizzled out almost as quickly as it accelerated. All Republicans, including Boebert herself, voted to refer Biden impeachment back to GOP-led committees that are already investigating the president.

Boebert and her allies on the right insist that they achieved their goal: a national spotlight on what several of them described as Biden’s “dereliction” and “gross neglect” on matters of border security.

“We need to remove Joe Biden from the Oval Office and ensure that Americans are safe,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said during free-wheeling floor debate on Thursday that veered from Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal to former President Donald Trump and the Capitol riot.

McCarthy also accomplished his short-term goal, deflecting the latest maneuver from his party’s right wing that was already revealing major schisms within the conference. But a bigger headache lies ahead: His decision to appease hardliners by referring impeachment to committees only ups the pressure on the various GOP panel chairs trying to mount credible probes of the Biden administration.

The spotlight will shine brightest on Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.), a conservative favorite who will eventually have to present conclusions on Biden’s border policy to all House Republicans.

But he may not have time to finish before Boebert and others try to use their powers to force impeachment to the floor again — and Biden isn’t the only one they’ll target. GOP hardliners deployed a similar expedited tactic just a day earlier to formally reprimand Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) for his past role leading congressional investigations into Trump.

McCarthy, who worked to convince fellow Republicans that it’s not the right time for an impeachment floor vote, is discouraging hardliners from trying again.

"I don't know that we need any more now that we've had them referred already. We're already having investigations," McCarthy said.

Green’s border probe, which has so far focused on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, is expected to stretch into the fall before he makes a call on making referrals to the Judiciary Committee, which would take the lead on any impeachment effort.

And Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Thursday's vote on the Boebert measure would not change any of his plans: "No, look we've got an important investigation happening in Oversight. When Mr. Comer completes that investigation, we'll take a look at everything.” (Comer is leading a broad look at the Biden family as Republicans hunt for an elusive link to the president.)

Sending the resolutions to the committee is also an attempt to appease frustrations among House Republican centrists, who lamented that Boebert’s move was reminiscent of Democratic impeachment efforts against then-President Trump.

“It should go through the Judiciary Committee or Oversight Committee, and if there is real facts for impeachment then you go there. But doing this is wrong. I think the majority of the conference feels that way,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a Biden-district Republican, said about Boebert’s move.

The conservatives' push this week took specific aim at what they call the Biden administration's failures on the southern border. As Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) pointed out on the floor, however, the GOP was looking into plenty more topics, including the Afghanistan withdrawal, the White House’s energy policy, and what he called the “Biden crime family syndicate.”

And he stressed: “What we’re talking about here is, indeed, solemn.“

Republicans are particularly eager to see Biden and his Cabinet secretaries impeached after Trump was impeached twice by the Democratic House.

Democrats, meanwhile, see political opportunity of their own in the GOP’s push to bring controversial matters to the House floor as the party positions itself to recapture the majority in 2024.

“We're in the week of the anniversary of the Dobbs decision that has taken away freedom and rights from women and families across this country,” said House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, referring to the Supreme Court's reversal of the nationwide right to an abortion as once enshrined in Roe v. Wade.

The GOP’s answer, she added, is “more extremism” — pointing to the impeachment push.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries predicted a focus on impeachment would “backfire.”

“All it will do is highlight that they have no plan, no vision, no agenda,” Jeffries said.