When the House of Representatives came back from summer break on Sept. 12, they found themselves with just 11 working days to pass spending measures to prevent a government shutdown.
The leaders of the Senate put this responsibility on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican Representative who represents California’s 20th Congressional District. Facing demands from members of the Republican party during this time of tension between both sides of the aisle, McCarthy called for a quick recess. After the recess, he officially launched an impeachment investigation on President Joe Biden. But what impeachable offenses has Biden committed?
The reason for the inquiry is simple: Biden’s involvement with the foreign affairs of his son, Hunter Biden, during his term as vice president from 2009 to 2017.
The House Oversight Committee reports that the members of the committee are figuring out “… whether the president’s connections to his family’s business deals occurred at the expense of American interests and whether they represent a national security threat.”
The Republicans, with the help of the House Oversight Committee, have collected the financial records of members of the Biden family with the hope of being able to successfully prove the inquiry to be true and impeach the president.
While the GOP is working tirelessly to make their claim, the Democratic Party is not taking this inquiry seriously. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, mocked the announcement, saying “Ooooh don’t do it”.
Fetterman is not the only one. Democrats from the legislative branch taunted McCarthy in making the decision, calling it “a joke” and “a shiny object to distract the public from the fact that the GOP can’t even pass bills to fund the government.” They seriously doubt and question the Republican party’s ability to pull the inquiry off and make an actual claim against Biden. So far, no evidence has been found that would warrant an investigation.
It’s clear to say that this issue at the Capitol has a direct impact on those in Washington. However, the collision is not just felt in D.C. It can also be felt here at John Carroll University.
Joe Bilas ‘27, president of John Carroll’s College Democrats, feels the inquiry means that politicians cannot make effective advancements to help better America.
Bilas contends that the situation “… reinforces the cynicism and the notion that nothing can change.” Instead of seeing discord in D.C., he would like to see McCarthy collaborate with the Democratic party to pass legislation that would help everyday Americans.
But he is not the only Blue Streak who feels strongly about this issue. Nick Aiello ‘24, president of College Republicans, wonders if the process of impeachment will play a more normal part in how the government operates.
Aiello remarks, “This is the third impeachment in the last five years, so what was a seemingly rare procedure seems to be more common now.”. He believes that this series of impeachments and impeachment inquiries is a result of large political division in the country.
As this process shows up more and more on Capitol Hill, it is apparent that the United States is not so ‘united’ after all.
There are always two sides to every story. This one is no exception. One side claims that the President posed a national security threat, whereas the other calls the whole investigation crazy, absurd and almost comical.
There is no definitive answer as to who is right in this impeachment inquiry. But yet again. hat is the Americans witness another president being faced with the possibility of impeachment.