November 1998
NO DEALS

The Washington elite and the liberal media are making a lot of noise about some "deal" Congress will cut with the president to alow him to serve out his term in office.

The TV talking heads suggest the polls will force Republicans to agree merely to "censure" Bill Clinton, or perhaps "censure plus," which is a plan to have Clinton stand in the well of the House of Representatives and hear harsh words condemning his perjury, obstruction of justice, and misconduct in ofice. After his "humiliation," the president would agree to pay a fine.

All this talk is just that--talk, There should be no deals.

The United States Congress is not elected by the American people to do whatever it wants to do. It is an elected assembly of 435 men and women sent to the nation's capital to execute legislative power under a limited mandate authorized by Article I of the Constitution.

The Founding Fathers made it very difficult to impeach a president, as well they should have. Impeachment is appropriate when the president is guilty of treason, accepting bribes, or "other high crimes and misdemeanors." Bill Clinton has directly assaulted the judiciary branch of the federal government by giving false statements to a federal judge in a civil case in Little Rock, Arkansas, and making false statements to a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. In accordance with federal laws, the Office of Independent Counsel has referred the evidence of this perjury and obstruction of justice to the Congress, after determining that it was "substantial and credible" information that Clinton committed impeachable offenses.

Congress may examine the evidence and hear additional evidence from anyone, including the president himself. After considering all of the evidence, Congress must vote to impeach or not to impeach--to send the matter to the Senate for a trial or end the matter. Once the Senate receives the referral, if they do at all, the Senate conducts a trial, with the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presiding. The Senate votes to convict or acquit, with 67 votes needed for conviction and removal of the president from office--but no deals.

Republicans in the House and Senate should do their duty within the limited powers given to them by the Constitution and stop all the talk about weaseling around the Constitution. Hold the trial and count the votes. If the Democrat senators want their party to stand for the premise that the president is above the law, so be it. The Republicans should not let them weasel out of that decision with censure.

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