Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News
Republicans in the House of Representatives have introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden in anticipation that they will retake control of Congress following midterm elections this fall.
Rank-and-file conservatives have made impeachment their top priority, accusing Biden of “high crimes,” including border enforcement, his treatment of the coronavirus pandemic, and the events surrounding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, according to The Hill.
“I have consistently said President Biden should be impeached for intentionally opening our border and making Americans less safe,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.). “Congress has a duty to hold the President accountable for this and any other failures of his Constitutional responsibilities, so a new Republican majority must be prepared to aggressively conduct oversight on day one.”
With Democrats having a tenuous hold on the lower chamber, those resolutions never stood a chance of passing. However, many of those same conservatives want to use the newfound power they hope to gain next year to remove a president they believe is unfit, especially since it is widely anticipated that Republicans will win the majority in the House in the midterm elections. Some would like to make it the first item on the agenda.
Since he assumed office, at least eight motions to impeach Biden have been made. One criticized the eviction moratorium intended to aid renters during the pandemic, three targeted his management of the migrant surge at the southern border, three targeted his handling of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, and a fourth was related to his son Hunter Biden’s international business dealings.
These initiatives will be abandoned at the conclusion of this Congress. However, some of the sponsors have already promised to return to them quickly the following year. One of them, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), is the lead sponsor of four of the impeachment resolutions.
“She believes Joe Biden should have been impeached as soon as he was sworn in, so of course she wants it to happen as soon as possible,” Nick Dyer, a Greene spokesman, said Monday in an email.
The push to impeach Biden has caused more progressive members of the media to point to the effort as a “misguided impeachment crusade,” as MSNBC’s Steve Benen did for the Rachel Maddow Blog, and a reference to a never-successful push to impeach then-President Barack Obama lead by members of the GOP.
However, the concern over issues within the Biden administration isn’t relegated to just the president. Resolutions have been introduced pointed toward Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
All of the above-mentioned Biden administration officials have been accused of dereliction of duty, particularly those in charge of the southern border and its security.
“Mayorkas and Garland have purposefully made our country less safe, politicized their departments, and violated the rule of law. In some instances, they have instructed their subordinates to disobey our laws. That is unacceptable,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who has endorsed a number of impeachment resolutions this year, said in an email.
“Next January I expect the House to pursue my impeachment articles against Mayorkas as well as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s impeachment articles that I co-sponsored against Attorney General Merrick Garland,” Biggs added.