Thursday, June 12, 2008

Kucinich to push for referral of impeachment resolution to Judiciary Committee

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
UPDATE: House votes to send impeachment measure to Judiciary Committee


Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who on Monday presented articles of impeachment against President Bush to Congress, pushed for a vote on his resolution that is expected Wednesday.

The thirty-five articles of impeachment that the Democratic lawmaker from Ohio painstakingly read for several hours on the House floor Monday were repeated Tuesday night into the Congressional record by the Clerk of the House.

Kucinich is offering the impeachment measure as a privileged resolution to force a vote, which is expected sometime Wednesday.

House leaders oppose Kucinich’s measure, and the chamber’s Democrats are expected to refer the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee.

“It is imperative that Members of Congress have a thorough opportunity to read the Articles of Impeachment and study the documentation,” said Kucinich, in the release. “When they do, I am confident that they will agree that it is both appropriate and necessary for the Judiciary Committee to begin hearings on the Resolution.”

In November, the House sent the Judiciary Committee a Kucinich-sponsored measure to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney. No hearings or further action have followed that move, and the same fate is likely to befall his attempt to impeach Bush.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has long said that impeachment was “off the table” as a legislative issue for the now-Democratic Congress, and Democrats seem more willing to simply run out the clock on the Bush presidency than to spend time on impeachment proceedings.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kucinich’s office claimed that his official website had been crippled a few hours after delivering his resolution the night before. An e-mail alert distributed by his office said the circumstances surrounding the attack could “best be described as ’suspicious.’”

Original here

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