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It's not over 'til its over: Democrats
Updated December 17, 1998
8:40 p.m. ET
(Court TV) — Democrats, weighed down by the increasing number of Republicans declaring for impeachment, appear to have all but conceded the battle.
There are, however, some moves &3151; the parliamentary equivalents to a hail mary in football$3151; still open to Democrats. They might try to kill impeachment by passing a motion to recommit. A minority member could ask the House to send the articles back to the Judiciary Committee and essentially kill them. Ten minutes of debate would be allowed on the motion to recommit. A simple majority could vote to pass it, but if the vote fails, no other motions will be allowed.
Democrats are also entitled to a motion to recommit the matter to the committee with instructions — but only if they haven't already tried to pass a standard motion to recommit. If they exercise the "with instructions" option, House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri could use their motion as a vehicle to seek a vote on censure.
The House parliamentarian already has decided that censure is not germane and would rule the Democratic motion out of order, according to Congressional aides. At that point, Gephardt could demand a vote appealing such a ruling. That, in effect, would then become the vote on whether censure should be considered.
However, a vote to appeal the ruling is, in effect, a vote against the chair conducting the proceedings, in this case Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill.
Republicans, even if they might support consideration of a censure motion in addition to the impeachment articles, are unlikely to assist Democrats in that vote.
At this point, the Democrats could try a three-step process that is practically impossible. First, Democrats would need to get a simple majority to agree to "defeat the question" — meaning to turn back the articles sent to them by the Judiciary Committee. If this happens, the Democrats would gain control of the proceeding in an unprecedented coup.
Then a proposal to amend the articles would have to be put to a vote. If a simple majority votes to amend, then censure wording could be inserted into the resolution. Any resulting language must, however, be approved by yet another simple majority.
Of course, if the Democrats had the votes to win such a victory, they presumably could kill impeachment on the floor.
Members almost never vote to defeat a previous question. The last time a rule was successfully amended was in 1982 when some Democrats broke ranks with the majority and voted with Republicans to pass a budget bill more favorable to President Ronald Reagan, according one congressional aide.
—Aldina Vazao Kennedy
Court TV's Jon Bonné contributed to this report.
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