BURSTHouse Democratic leaders will oppose an effort by a fellow Democrat to impeach President Trump when the resolution hits the floor on Wednesday afternoon.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the chairman of the Democratic Caucus, said the impeachment push by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) is not only futile, but poses "a distraction" from the Democrats' efforts to sink Trump's domestic agenda, which is moving through the House this month.
"I have said before from this podium that this is not the right approach we should be taking. We'll join the members of the leadership team in voting to table that motion," Aguilar told reporters during a press briefing in the Capitol.
"Right now, our focus is on health care being stripped away from the American people. That is the most urgent and dire thing that we could be talking about this week," he added. "Everything else is a distraction."
Thanedar is undeterred.
Late last month, he filed seven articles of impeachment against Trump, accusing the president of violating constitutional law and ignoring court orders, among other infractions. The list included the administration's mistaken deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador and efforts to slash government spending without congressional approval.
On Tuesday, Thanedar moved to make his resolution "privileged" — a rarely used procedure that forces a vote on the House floor within a specified window. House GOP leaders have scheduled a vote to table, or kill, the motion on Wednesday at around 5 p.m.
With Republicans controlling the lower chamber — and no GOP lawmakers supporting Trump's impeachment — the table motion is expected to pass easily. The support from Democratic leaders only ensures that the vote will likely be overwhelmingly bipartisan.