Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Republicans can bet Democrats will run on GOP calls to impeach President Obama.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday called impeachment talk a “scam” perpetuated by Democrats to boost fundraising, but Israel isn’t backing down.
{mosads}”You bet we’re going to run on a Congress that is just obsessed with lawsuits, suing the President, talking about impeaching him, instead of solutions for the middle class, talking about jobs and infrastructure,” he told CNN on Wednesday. “You bet that we’re going to ask people to support us based on that contrast.”
Israel openly acknowledged that talk of the move is motivating Democrats.
“The phone calls, the emails, people signing up, wanting volunteer on campaigns, has surged literally over the past several weeks,” Israel said. “Now it always surges as you get closer to an election, but I’m telling you the August numbers are what the Octobers numbers should be.”
The DCCC has sent out a flurry of fundraising emails warning of the possibility of impeachment. The Washington Post reported Monday that the messaging helped bring in $2.1 million over the weekend.
“We have no plans to impeach the president,” Boehner said Tuesday. “We have no future plans.”
The House is set to vote Wednesday on a lawsuit against Obama for what Republicans say is executive overreach. Obama mocked the lawsuit in a speech in Kansas City on Wednesday, but did not mention impeachment.
At the press briefing on Tuesday, though, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest declined to tell Democrats to stop fundraising off impeachment.
“I will leave it to Democratic strategists, who have a much better sense than I do about the best way to raise money for their campaign committees.” he said.