House Minority Whip Steve Scalise brushed off a question about whether a Republican House majority in 2023 could face pressure to impeach President Joe Biden.
The Louisiana Republican was asked in a press conference Tuesday about a comment that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made on his podcast last week.
“I think there’ll be enormous pressure on a Republican House to begin impeachment proceedings,” Cruz said, adding that “Democrats weaponized impeachment” and turned it into a “partisan cudgel.”
Scalise, who is the second-ranking Republican in the House, did not directly answer whether he would feel pressure to impeach Biden.
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“Right now, the real pressure I think being felt is the failure of this — this administration, Speaker Pelosi, to use the House to help working families,” Scalise responded, referencing inflation. “We want to get the majority back for a number of reasons, but the main one is to go and fight for those families that are being left behind.”
He promised, though, that Republicans would do “a lot of actual oversight, real oversight, robust accountability for the Biden administration.”
Areas that Republican-controlled committees could probe, Scalise said, include digging into the origin of the COVID-19 virus, local governments not prosecuting smash-and-grab criminals, and parental control over children’s education.
Election analysts expect the 2022 midterm elections to favor Republicans, which would create the potential for a Republican-led impeachment of Biden come 2023. An exodus of House Democrats suggests that they expect Republicans to control the House in 2022. Eighteen House Democrats have announced they will retire after this term, and eight more are seeking other elected offices.
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A number of congressional Republicans want Biden to be impeached, with a wave of calls for impeachment or removal following the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan in August. But some want him impeached for other reasons.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced four separate impeachment resolutions, with charges ranging from abuse of power regarding his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings to usurping Congress’s authority on COVID-19 regulations. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert and Texas Rep. Randy Weber have introduced separate articles of impeachment relating to Biden’s handling of Afghanistan. An impeachment resolution from Ohio Rep. Bob Gibbs cited Biden’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, Afghanistan, and his attempt to expand the federal moratorium on evictions.
