USA
Biden takes Republicans’ impeachment threat in stride
US President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House. photo
© Susan Walsh/AP/dpa
For the first time, US President Biden has commented on investigations into possible impeachment proceedings against him. His conclusion: He has to concentrate on more important things.
The Democratic politician said he had to deal with issues that affect the daily lives of Americans and didn’t know exactly why the Republicans were even pursuing a case against him. As far as he understood, they wanted to impeach him for alleged official misconduct in order to paralyze the government, Biden said with a view to the upcoming budget negotiations.
Shutdown could paralyze government business
The Republicans only have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and some members have already indicated that they only want to approve the budget if the party leadership initiates impeachment investigations against Biden. If there is no majority for the budget, a so-called shutdown would occur, meaning government business and public administration would be paralyzed.
On Tuesday, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, initiated the first concrete steps towards possible impeachment proceedings against Biden. There are credible allegations that the president was involved in his son Hunter’s illegal business and further investigation is needed, McCarthy said.
Even if the procedure in the House of Representatives were to be successful, impeaching Biden would require a two-thirds majority in the other chamber of Congress, the Senate – which is currently considered impossible. The Democrats have the majority in the Senate.