Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) has authored a resolution that seeks to define President Obama’s executive actions on immigration as impeachable offenses.
The Yoho resolution defines impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors” in a way that is clearly aimed at Obama’s actions to unilaterally delay deportations for certain illegal immigrants.
{mosads}Listed impeachable crimes in his resolution include “failing to take care that the laws be faithfully executed through signing statements or systematic policies of nonenforcement,” “misusing federal agencies to advance a partisan political agenda,” and “issuing executive orders or presidential memoranda that infringe upon or circumvent the constitutional powers of Congress.”
But Yoho insisted that his proposal isn’t directly aimed at Obama.
“Let me be clear, this resolution isn’t directed at any one president and doesn’t favor one party or the other. Essentially, it will put all presidents — current and future, both Democrat and Republican — on notice that Congress will finally begin holding them accountable,” Yoho said in a statement this week.
The resolution would also establish “intentionally lying to Congress to obtain an authorization for war” and “intentionally lying under oath to a Federal judge or grand jury” as impeachable crimes.
House GOP leaders have distanced themselves from talk of impeachment among hard-line conservatives.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) insisted last summer that impeachment is a “scam” perpetuated by Democrats to boost their fundraising.
But some Republicans, notably 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and former Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), have explicitly called for the president to be impeached.
Yoho launched a long-shot bid for Speaker in January and accrued just two votes, including one from himself.
The Florida Republican also authored a symbolic bill passed by the House in December to block the executive branch from deferring deportations of illegal immigrants.