House debate and votes on impeachment of President Clinton were postponed at least until Friday by Speaker-designate Bob Livingston, R-La., who planned to bring to the floor today a resolution in support of the American troops engaged in bombing Iraq.
"We're not putting any deadlines on ourselves," Livingston said of the timing of the vote. Consideration of impeachment will begin "possibly Friday, possibly Saturday, but in the near future," Livingston said.
Urging House members not to leave Washington this weekend, Livingston said the House should be ready to return to session "at the call of the chair" to act on "a matter of historical importance." Maintaining "we don't know of the votes there are on overall impeachment," Livingston insisted that the GOP leadership had not tried to influence votes while the White House, on the other hand, has "weighed in and lobbied."
Livingston tried to keep the White House in suspense about the pending vote to impeach Clinton, but a staffer speculated the House probably would not meet Sunday and would wind up its work by Christmas. To show House support for U.S. forces engaged in the action, Livingston said he would seek unanimous consent for a show of support to the troops in the Thursday session, and conduct no further legislative business until Friday.
As Defense Secretary William Cohen and CIA Director George Tenet briefed all members on the House floor about the attack Wednesday night, a senior Republican speculated that there might be over 12 hours of impeachment debate stretched over two days.
Angry and frustrated, several Republicans criticized the timing of Clinton's bombing of Iraq but Livingston was restrained.
Remarking only on "the coincidence" of the bombing and the impeachment debate, Livingston said, "That's all I'll say about it." He added, "We all, Democrats and Republicans, share in the belief that Saddam Hussein must be contained and the troops will come home safely hopefully in a few days."
Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., earlier Thursday charged the attack was staged to derail the impeachment effort, an opinion he said was unchanged Thursday evening by Cohen and Tenet's presentation.
But Clinton, saying he had acted on the "unanimous" recommendation of his national security team, addressed the timing of the decision to bomb Iraq in his nationally television speech Thursday, noting that U.S. allies had agreed that now was the time to strike and that his military aides had counseled against waiting.
Taking a tougher stance than Livingston, Majority Leader Dick Armey argued that the air strikes themselves added fuel to support Clinton's impeachment and repeated his call for the president to resign.
"The suspicion some people have about the President's motives in this attack is itself a powerful argument for impeachment," Armey said. "After months of lies, the President has given millions of people around the world reason to doubt that he has sent Americans into battle for the right reasons."
"If the President refuses to resign for the sake of the nation, I believe he should be impeached and face Senate trial," Armey said.
In a spirited closed meeting of the GOP Conference, some Republicans urged that the impeachment vote not be postponed while others argued that supporting the troops should be the top priority.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., got a standing ovation for his work, and told reporters as he left there would be a "very temporary" delay in the vote on his panel's four articles of impeachment.
Some members reacted so strongly to the timing of the bombing that they felt Clinton sealed his fate with the air strikes. Rep. Tom Ewing, R-Ill., said the President's military action "locked in the votes, if it did anything."
Most Republicans interviewed insisted the events of the day would not affect their votes, and at least one Republican, Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., said he was still undecided.
As the Republicans gathered, Rep. W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., said he had decided to vote for three of the articles of impeachment and had not decided what to do about the fourth regarding the abuse of power.
Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the administration's Iraq policy and lack of consultation with the Hill, but also said, "I don't think it is in any way appropriate, and I think it is perhaps even disloyal, to do anything except focus on the well-being of our effort as a national effort. ... That has to be our first order of business."
Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., a leading critic of Clinton on the Judiciary Committee, said he supports delaying the impeachment debate.
Another Judiciary Committee member, Rep. Ed Bryant, R-Tenn., said he was "concerned about the timing" of the raids.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., made a flat prediction: "We are going to impeach the president and will do it with all deliberation. ... Any delay will be temporary."
Across the aisle, there was a "unanimous feeling that [impeachment] should not come up [today] and it should not come up as long as our troops are in harm's way," House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said after a meeting of the Democratic Caucus.
He agreed that the House should consider a resolution supporting the troops in an effort to deliver the message that "we are one. We are unified." He added, "I would hope we do not take up impeachment until the hostilities have completely ended."
Most Democrats applauded the decision to delay the impeachment vote. "That would be a very prudent and very wise thing to do," said Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. "That makes perfect sense." And incoming House Democratic Caucus Chairman Martin Frost of Texas said, "The appropriate thing is to wait and not take this up."
However, one Democrat was unhappy that the debate and vote might come up within the next few days. "So we're going to screw up all of Christmas instead of half of it," said House Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis. "These guys really know how to run a railroad." He added, "Why don't we do it during Mass? Then we could have a national crucifixion."
Democrats were livid that some Republicans questioned the president's motives. "At each point in this process I am amazed at how low some members can go in their effort to impeach Bill Clinton," said House Judiciary Committee member Robert Wexler, D- Fla.
Minutes before the air strikes began, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he could not support military action "in the Persian Gulf at this time."
In a statement he said, "I am opposed to endangering the lives of brave American men and women in the military for action in Iraq that will not effect real change in that nation. If, however, military action is taken, all Americans will fully support our troops."
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