House Republicans Sidestep Vote on Boebert’s Biden Impeachment Resolution

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) listens to testimony from witnesses during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the U.S. southern border, in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

House Republicans on June 22 managed to stave off a vote on a resolution to impeach President Joe Biden introduced by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), instead sending it to two committees.

The 219–208 party-line vote sent the resolution to the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, which oversee impeachments and immigration policy, respectively.

Usually, an impeachment investigation begins with the Judiciary Committee. However, Boebert bypassed that path with her privileged resolution, skipping the committee procedure resulting in only two days for House leaders to schedule a vote. The shock move threatened to divide the party and disrupt its ongoing investigations into the Biden family.

“Joe Biden’s unconstitutional dereliction of his Article II duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed warrants impeachment," Boebert said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

“He has willfully created a border crisis that has enabled the horrific trafficking of children. As a mother, it breaks my heart to watch Joe Biden turn a blind eye to victims of child sex trafficking. Biden’s Border Crisis has allowed millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country, threatened our national security, and killed more than 100,000 Americans from fentanyl—including more than 1,800 Coloradans.

“I am pleased that House leadership worked with me on my impeachment bill to protect our constitutional republic.”

In a move that signaled division in the party, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) urged Republican lawmakers to oppose the measure.

During a closed-door meeting of the GOP conference earlier in the week, McCarthy expressed his reservations about the resolution and emphasized the importance of a thorough investigation before taking such a serious step.

“I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. ... You’ve got to go through the process. You’ve got to have the investigation. ... Throwing something on the floor actually harms the investigation that we’re doing right now,” McCarthy told reporters, according to The Hill.

He also revealed that he had requested that Boebert discuss her resolution with the House GOP conference before initiating a vote, but she proceeded without doing so. Boebert didn’t attend the subsequent meeting.

Despite McCarthy’s advice, Boebert introduced the privileged motion to force a vote on the impeachment resolution, generating mixed reactions within the Republican Party.

Boebert’s Justification for Moving Forward

Boebert defended her decision to push for a vote on impeachment during an appearance on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s show.

The Colorado lawmaker argued that sufficient work hadn’t been done by the committees on the subject, expressing her hope that the resolution would generate enthusiasm among the Republican base and prompt their engagement with their respective members of Congress.

“I would love for committees to do the work, but I haven’t seen the work be done on this particular subject,” Boebert said.

“This, I’m hoping, generates enthusiasm with the base to contact their members of Congress and say, ‘We want something done while you have the majority.’”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which Boebert bypassed the committee process.

Comer, whose committee has been conducting an investigation into corruption accusations against the Biden family, revealed that new information was being uncovered almost daily. While Comer didn’t indicate his support for Boebert’s resolution, he voiced concerns about the lack of committee involvement.

“I don’t like how she presented it by bypassing the committee process, especially when the investigation in the Oversight Committee, which she’s on, is producing new information almost daily,” Comer told Fox News Digital.

Republican Resistance

Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) told The Epoch Times: “I support impeachment, but I don’t know if I support that resolution just because I haven’t read the articles yet. But I think he’s done more than enough to warrant impeachment.”

When asked what the president has done to warrant impeachment, Fulcher cited the border and the “lack of willingness to enforce U.S. law.”

When asked about his stance on Boebert’s resolution, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) told The Epoch Times that a successful impeachment required building a case before a majority of American voters.

“I think we will be in a better position to vote on that in a month and ... maybe two months,” he said.

“History has shown that if you want a successful impeachment, you have to build the case before a majority of the American voters. I think every couple of weeks on the Oversight Committee we learn more, but to bring forth a resolution as significant and drastic as impeachment ... will not necessarily be helpful.

“I think most people believe that if Joe Biden were impeached, it would raise his popularity right now and make him look a little bit like a martyr.”

Republican Victory on Schiff Censure

Republicans recently saw a victory in the House when Boebert’s ideological ally, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), forced a vote on censuring Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) for his handling of investigations into the Trump presidential campaign and the first Trump impeachment.

The House voted to censure Schiff on June 21 in a 213–209 vote, with six voting “present.” Chaos broke out on the House floor as Democrats disputed the decision by House Republicans.

This came just a week after Luna’s original resolution was put on the table. Republicans who had previously opposed the proposal changed their minds once a section fining Schiff $16 million was deleted. This was half of the sum paid by the federal government to look into now-discredited accusations of Russian connection with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.