WASHINGTON – Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is planning to make a procedural move on the House floor Tuesday that would call up a vote on the Democratic presidential candidate's resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.
In the resolution, which was introduced in April and has 21 co-sponsors, Kucinich accuses Cheney of lying to Congress and the U.S. public in order to enter into a war in Iraq, and of trying to mislead again in order to start a war with Iran.
"The vice president is cherry-picking intelligence and selectively using facts in a manner that does not portray the complete picture," Kucinich said in a statement Monday. "The best option to prevent an unnecessary war with Iran is to impeach the vice president, the lead cheerleader of the war. The Constitution gave Congress the power to impeach. Congress must use its power to restrain the administration and impeach the vice president before he prods the United States into another war."
Prospects for raising a point of privilege on the resolution don't appear strong, however, and a Monday evening conference call intended to discuss Tuesday's plan could foretell its future. Kucinich presidential campaign co-coordinator Herbert Hoffman said the scheduled call with resolution sponsors was canceled after suffering a fatal "technical failure."
When Kucinich offers his resolution, the House does not have to consider it. After it is put up for consideration, the resolution must be ruled in order by the House Parliamentarian. If it is not ruled to be in order, the issue dies unless Kucinich successfully appeals the ruling of the chair.
That would lead to a vote right there on the issue, or it could lead to a delay of up to 48 hours. A vote — or more than likely, a motion to table Kucinich's effort — would probably be delayed, too.
Death of the resolution is the preferable route for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who indicated through her spokesman Monday that impeachment is off the table.
"We're focused on redeploying our troops out of Iraq, covering 10 million uninsured children and meeting our national priorities long neglected by the Bush administration," said Pelosi aide Nasheam Elshami.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers told FOX News that it's not in the speaker's interest to move impeachment articles.
"If she were to let this thing out of the box, considering the number of legislative issues we have pending ... it could create a split that could effect our productivity for the rest of the Congress," he said.
FOX News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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