Whose rules? Your rules!
Vigorous impeachment inquiry debate on House floor
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, and Minority Whip Steve Scalise spent more than an hour on the House floor Friday afternoon engaged in a spirited debate over the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The two lawmakers meet on the floor weekly to discuss their caucuses’ legislative agenda. Friday’s exchange was a stark departure from the more congenial tone in their fly-out day conversations.
The verbose back-and-forth between the senior congressmen began with a question from Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, on the process for impeachment. The conversation then turned to cover a wide range of arguments on impeachment in the House including:
- [7:45] Process and rules of the impeachment inquiry
- [13:17] Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee
- [16:02] Foreign interference in U.S. elections
- [23:42] The Mueller report
- [28:50] Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
- [31:50] Russia, Iran and Syria
- [36:10] Historical precedent
- [42:27] The Bidens
- [45:20] White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney
- [51:34] Legislative gridlock in the Senate
- [57:10] Government shutdown
Frustrations, toward the end of the hour, cleared and both agreed to disagree. Scalise concluded the conversation with a call for talks on the issue between congressional leaders.
