Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged House Republicans to vote against the resolution brought forward by GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado forcing a vote to impeach President Joe Biden this week, arguing now is not the right time, multiple sources in the closed door meeting told CNN.
McCarthy argued that Republicans should let committee investigations play out and warning that jumping to impeachment now could threaten their slim majority, the sources said. The speaker noted that House Republicans have taken back the House five times in the last 100 years, and two of those times lost the majority the next cycle.
"What majority do we want to be," McCarthy asked his conference, according to a source in the room "Give it right back in two years or hold it for a decade and make real change?"
A number of House Republicans have filed articles of impeachment against Biden since the party took the House majority, but Boebert made a specific procedural move on Tuesday that would force the chamber to vote on the impeachment of Biden this week.
McCarthy also raised that it would look hypocritical for the House GOP conference to censure Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California for abusing his position in Congress and then use that same reasoning to justify impeaching Biden the next day, according to sources.
After the closed door conference meeting, McCarthy ignored questions from CNN and instead slammed the network.
A number of other House Republicans raised concerns about their right wing colleagues using procedural methods to bypass the committee process and force votes on the floor, particularly after they had harped on Congress returning to regular order as part of their demands in exchange for electing McCarthy as speaker earlier this year, the sources added.
"I think that things like impeachment are one of the most awesome powers of the Congress," one lawmaker told CNN. "It's not something you should flippantly exercise in two days."
Another lawmaker who is voting against the Boebert resolution told CNN, "It should come through committee and treated with the seriousness it deserves."
