Steve Rothman: “this vote today is about one thing, the sanctity of the Constitution of the United States. The Founding Fathers were…”

“this vote today is about one thing, the sanctity of the Constitution of the United States. The Founding Fathers were clear. They created a strong presidency where the executive was elected for 4-year terms. They did not want a parliamentary system where the Congress could remove the people's choice unless the President's conduct had threatened the very stability of the country. The founders specifically rejected proposals to allow impeaching the President for poor character or for morally bad behavior. They said it clearly. The President can only be impeached for treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors against the state. This high bar for presidential impeachment has served our country well for 210 years, so well in fact that only one president in our Nation's history has ever been impeached by this House. Now, driven by their hatred and loathing of Bill Clinton and his policies, the Republican Party is about to take our constitutional balance of powers and permanently and irreparably and forever damage it. The constitutional punishment of impeachment was not meant to substitute for the punishment of the civil and criminal courts. Impeachment was meant to address presidential behavior that threatened the republic so gravely as to require the removal of the President in the middle of his or her term. We can all agree that the President's acts, lying to the American people and having an affair in the White House with an intern, were reprehensible.”