Impeachment Debate in the House: A Bitterly Divided Congress

A bitterly divided House girded to begin debating the impeachment of President Clinton after Speaker-designate Livingston's admission of unfaithfulness to his wife sparked a firestorm of emotions and public statements of allegiance. In a stunning turn of events, Livingston confessed his adultery to a stunned caucus of his party members, who gave him a standing ovation and left with mixed emotions. The impeachment debate, a constitutional duty of the House, was set to begin at 9 a.m. with a proposed 18-hour debate time, but negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders over the schedule were broken off.

Key Takeaways:

• The impeachment debate in the House was set to begin after Speaker-designate Livingston admitted to unfaithfulness to his wife, sparking a firestorm of emotions and public statements of allegiance.
• Livingston confessed his adultery to a stunned caucus of his party members, who gave him a standing ovation and left with mixed emotions.
• The impeachment debate was to focus on four articles of impeachment, with debate expected to begin at 9 a.m. and continue for 18 hours, but negotiations over the schedule were broken off.
• Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, D-Calif., linked President Clinton's affair to the impeachment debate, stating that "They've done everything to intimidate people."
• Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., praised Livingston's apology, saying "He apologized for any embarrassment this might cause."
• Livingston insisted that the impeachment process was a constitutional duty of the House, stating "The fact is we must go forward."
• The debate could be cut off at any time by a member who resorts to the parliamentary device of moving the previous question.
• Rules Chairman Solomon predicted the debate would last only two or three hours followed by votes, but Livingston and House Majority Whip DeLay predicted the votes would take place late Saturday.
• Several options for extending the debate were noted by Solomon, including recognizing the next most senior person on the Judiciary Committee for an additional hour.

Statistics:

• 18 hours: proposed debate time between today and Saturday
• 9 a.m.: proposed start time of debate
• 4 articles: focus of impeachment debate
• 1 hour: time limit for debate according to House rules
• 2-3 hours: predicted length of debate according to Rules Chairman Solomon
• 18 months: length of time Livingston has been serving in Congress
• 33 years: length of time Livingston has been married to his wife, Bonnie

Sources:

• (CongressDaily), Dec-18
• (Roll Call),
• (Washington Post),
• (New York Times),