Biden impeachment inquiry vote expected during busy week for House

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has a big week coming up. From a meeting with a foreign president to a vote on an impeachment inquiry, Johnson will be facing some of the biggest issues both home and abroad.

Biden impeachment inquiry 

First and foremost, Johnson is expected to hold a vote on formally authorizing an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., unilaterally opened an impeachment inquiry into Biden in September, but the White House contends it does not have to comply with subpoenas related to the investigation because it has not been authorized with a majority vote. 

Republican leadership believes the public supports an inquiry. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., cited an AP poll that found 35% of U.S. adults believe President Biden did something illegal. Of the respondents, 33% said they think he behaved unethically, but not illegally, and 30% said he did nothing wrong. 

“That’s a message the American people are sending to Congress — we want you to find out the truth. And right now this administration’s obstructing us,” Comer said.

If Republicans vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry, they believe it will strengthen their hand if they go to court to enforce a subpoena. They want to obtain emails that Biden sent using a pseudonym during his years as vice president. Republicans believe it will provide insight into possible corruption surrounding Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.

However, for the vote to pass, all 221 House Republicans will need to be on board because Democrats are united in their opposition.

“Impeachment is an extraordinary constitutional remedy that is reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors, grave offenses against the public order,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the Oversight Committee’s highest-ranking Democrat. “And they obviously don’t have that for Joe Biden but they want to trivialize it so Donald Trump can say, oh well he’s been impeached twice but there’s also an impeachment investigation going on during the campaign against Joe Biden.” 

Meeting with Ukraine’s president 

Tuesday, Dec. 12, Johnson is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy traveled to Washington as Congress tries to make a deal on a supplemental funding package that will provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and extra security at the southern border. 

Zelenskyy wants to tell lawmakers in person why Ukraine urgently needs more funding for its war effort against Russia.

The White House said if Congress doesn’t approve more aid, the U.S. will run out of money for Ukraine by the end of the year. However, Republicans are insisting on making immigration reform part of the bill.

National Defense Authorization Act 

Finally, Johnson needs to secure approval for the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill, which provides funding for the entire military, is one of the few bipartisan things Congress does every year.

That bipartisanship is expected to continue this year, but some Republicans said they will vote against it because they aren’t happy that Johnson is also including a temporary extension of the FISA program known as Section 702, which allows the FBI to spy on foreigners overseas without a warrant. Lawmakers are concerned the program is abused and they don’t want to fully reauthorize it without reforms.