The Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) admitted on Face The Nation that the lawsuits filed by Republicans are about setting up the impeachment of President Obama.
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McCaul said, “I think the impeachment. Listen, the constitutionality issue will be determined by the courts. I know there are various lawsuits. My state, now governor, attorney general now governor is filing a lawsuit against this. The courts will decide that issue. I want to make one thing very clear. We are not going to shut the government down, but we are going to shut down this president and his actions.”
A careful reading of McCaul’s answer reveals the Republican strategy. House Republicans are going to use the lawsuits that are filed against President Obama as a path towards impeachment. If a court rules that the president acted unconstitutionally, Republicans would, in their view, be justified in pursuing impeachment. Boehner and McConnell aren’t going to do the dirty work themselves. Republicans are intentionally using the courts to try to build a guess for impeaching the president.
Boehner’s lawsuit against the president will be laughed out of court. Greg Abbott’s lawsuit against President Obama’s immigration executive orders will also be tossed out of court. Republicans are filing partisan meritless lawsuits in the hope of getting their smoking gun against Obama.
Years of House Republican investigations have failed to turn up any kind of scandal, so Republicans have moved on to wasting taxpayer money with frivolous partisan lawsuits.
The second part of McCaul’s remarks about not shutting down the government also deserve some decoding. Republicans continue to suggest that they aren’t going to shut down the government. It is clear that what they are going to try to do is defund the Department of Homeland Security. If House Republicans attach a defunding rider on the funding bill in December, the Senate will not pass it. Should the Senate not pass a funding bill, Republicans will blame President Obama and the Democrats for shutting down the government.
Republicans are using twisted logic to try to pre-blame Democrats for the next potential government shutdown. They tried this same tactic last year, and it blew up in their faces. Republicans should expect the same result if they try it again.
Congressional Republicans are trying to cover up their true motives and intentions, but occasionally, a bit of truth slips out. The lawsuits aren’t unrelated to the Republican dreams of impeaching the president. If the courts ever gave them a reason to do so, Republicans would seriously consider impeaching President Obama.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
