White House efforts to avoid the impeachment process moving forward have run up against Republican intransigence. A vote will be taken in the House of Representatives the week after next on opening an impeachment investigation into President Clinton arising from his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky.
The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr Henry Hyde, dashed White House hopes of staving off the impeachment procedure when he announced yesterday that a decision on whether to start the process will be made in about 10 days time. Mr Hyde also dismissed an appeal by House Democratic leader, Mr Dick Gephardt, that a time limit of 30 days be set on the impeachment process.
Mr Hyde said that the President "had eight months to tell the truth, but instead he sent his staff out to declare his innocence to the world. Now the Democrats want to shut down an inquiry of his behaviour in 30 days".
The committee will meet today to decide on the release of an enormous amount of material which Independent Counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, has sent to Capitol Hill to back up his report recommending impeachment of the President. There are said to be about 65,000 pages of transcripts and interviews due to be released in edited form next week.
It is virtually certain that the Republican majority in the House will vote to begin the impeachment process. The investigation based on the Starr report will then be taken over by the judiciary committee after the mid-term elections on November 3rd. It will be up to the committee to propose to the full House a motion to impeach President Clinton for "high crimes and misdemeanours". Mr Clinton was asked yesterday if he saw any way out of impeachment. He had just presented recent census figures showing that household incomes rose and poverty rates have fallen for the third year running.
The President, avoiding a direct answer to the question, emphasised that "the way out here" is for him to focus on his job of improving the economy, ensuring a balanced budget, improving schools and cleaning up the environment.
Meanwhile, a national women's legal rights group said that President Clinton had "let the country down" by his sexual improprieties but he should not be driven from office.
Ms Judith Lichtman, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said she and other women's leaders had not spoken out earlier about Mr Clinton's behaviour because it was difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.
"Today we know much more. The President displayed a breathtaking lack of judgment, ethics, consideration for his family and respect for his office. Without question, Bill Clinton has let the country down.
"He is a flawed person who has governed well," Ms Lichtman said, "doing good work for women, families and members of minorities. With this knowledge, we ought to urge Congress to vote for censure, end the ugliness and allow him to finish his term."
Former Senator Bob Dole has revealed that Mr Clinton, who defeated him in the 1966 election, had "reached out to me" for help with members of Congress as it considers impeachment proceedings. But Mr Dole said on NBC's Today show that it was too early to say whether he could play a role in negotiating a deal to avoid impeachment. Mr Dole said he had talked to individuals who are trying to help the President. "And I told them very clearly I thought it was premature to talk about censure."
The White House had been hoping that Congress would settle for a motion of censure on the President instead of going through a lengthy impeachment procedure which the majority of Americans believes is not necessary.