General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Am I the only one who is terrified? [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Could the House impeach the president simply because the president interprets his duties under the Constitution differently than the majority in the House does?
Yes. They could. Impeach simply refers to the process of trying a person.
But there would be no grounds for convicting the president because the dispute would not be about a crime or misdemeanor but about a conflict in the interpretation of the presidents' duties under the Constitution.
In fact, the Constitution requires the House, Senate and president combined to either present a budget that pays all debts or raise the debt ceiling or figure out some other way to pay the country's debts. So, if the debts aren't paid and no budget is passed, they are all in derelict of duty, and we have a constitutional crisis. The fact is that the Constitution requires the debts to be paid, states the budget has to originate in the House and then be passed with the accord of the executive, the Senate and the House, but does not specify who has to make sure the bills are all paid. Arguably it falls to the House, Senate and president to agree to a budget and to agree to find the money to fund the budget and then to the president to pay the bills.
The House is only one part of that triumvirate. Even if the Republicans have a majority in the House, they are in the minority of the government and should give way.