Marcy Kaptur: “this Congress is faced with a very imperfect situation, a President who has deeply disgraceed our Nation and an…”

“this Congress is faced with a very imperfect situation, a President who has deeply disgraceed our Nation and an independent prosecutor who has compromised the integrity of the investigative process. The damage both men have rendered is strewn across the American landscape, and now the Committee on the Judiciary of this House has produced a one-sided, rampantly partisan option for this membership to consider. Healing our Nation must be the paramount consideration of this body, and our people must be spared from further division. Even though it appears that President Clinton lied under oath, which could be a high crime, proving perjury in a court of law is a highly technical legal matter not easily established. On the other hand, a Senate trial would not require the same level of judicial proof, but it is unlikely the Senate will be able to assemble a working supermajority for any of the impeachment charges. The House of its own accord can act to resolve this situation assigning proper penalties and punishments but likely will fail to do so placing this entire matter in the netherworld between the Senate, unlikely to reach a conclusion and a legal system in which wrongdoing will be difficult to prove. Our Nation needs to move forward. I am left with no option but to vote against the committee's recommendations in spite of my disdain for the President's actions.”