An increasingly influential Republican lawmaker has essentially dumped cold water on the notion that House GOP leaders are serious about holding President Joe Biden accountable via impeachment.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told Fox News on Sunday that any potential impeachment of Biden is “window dressing.”
“So there are two things on the Republicans’ plate in the House come Tuesday. It’s not just the impeachment inquiry, but also funding the government, a potential continuing resolution as you tackle the funding the government and the appropriations bills,” host Dagen McDowell said to open the segment.
“Those are push and pull, if you will. I know that among the House Freedom Caucus, other conservatives have urged Speaker McCarthy to force deeper spending cuts, attach GOP priorities to any short or long-term bill that the likes of Matt Gaetz, he wants an impeachment inquiry. Some people feel that the impeachment inquiry is being kind of dangled as a carrot, as a shiny object in order to get a just a continuing resolution pushed through,” she continued before asking: “How does this play out in getting at least the government funded in the short run?”
“Well, impeachment is just window-dressing. It’s not going to go anywhere,” Mace predicted.
“We need real spending cuts. We need real measures. I mean, and when we look at the potential for government shutdown in the next couple of weeks — it’ll happen before October, if it happens at all — that is a real risk right now. But a lot of folks on the right are going to want to blame Biden and Democrats and the left,” Mace continued.
“But I got to tell you, we’re here today because both sides, Republicans and Democrats, have spent into oblivion. And it’s untenable. And if there is a shutdown, it’ll be up to the executive branch if the Senate and House can’t get their act together to prioritize spending in a piece of legislation,” she noted further.
“It’ll be up to the executive branch to prioritize that spending. But I want to tell you, that debt ceiling bill added 20 — $18.8 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. We have to make cuts, we need to make them over the next — I don’t think you can do it in 10 — I think 15 to 20 years,” the South Carolina Republican continued.
“Be very sensible. Both sides of the aisle should sit down at the table and figure that out together because both Republicans and Democrats have created this mess. And so I’m looking for serious legislation on both things, both whether it’s an investigation into Biden or spending cuts to prevent a government shutdown,” the lawmaker went on.
“Both things need to happen when you show the American people Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. We will see what happens,” she said.
