House OKs impeachment probe

The vote marks only the third time in American history that a president faces impeachment. The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House of Representatives triggered an open-ended impeachment inquiry against President Clinton Thursday in a momentous vote cast in the shadow of mid-term elections. Thirty-one Democrats joined majority Republicans in increasing the peril for the embattled chief executive. The 258-176 vote opened the way for nationally televised impeachment hearings later this year, with possible witnesses ranging from Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr to Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and other central characters in the sex-and-cover-up drama that has commanded the nation's attention for nine months. Clinton, the nation's 42nd president, becomes only the third occupant of his office to face serious impeachment prospects. Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House in 1868 but remained in office after the Senate fell one vote shy of forcing his removal. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 rather than face impeachment over Watergate. ''I do not think that we want to settle for less than the whole truth,'' said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. To the nation watching on television -- as well as to openly skeptical Democrats sitting across the aisle in the House chamber -- he pledged fairness in the months ahead. ''Too much hangs in the balance for us not to rise above partisan politics,'' he said. At the White House, press secretary Joe Lockhart curtly responded that the proceedings had become ''infected with politics and partisanship." House Democrats argued in vain for an inquiry limited to Starr's evidence, to be wrapped up by Dec. 31. ''We're all profoundly hurt by what the president has done,'' said Democratic leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri. ''But this investigation must be ended fairly and quickly. It has hurt our nation and it's hurt our children. We must not compound the hurt.'' The visitors gallery was packed as the historic debate unfolded. Underscoring the gravity of the moment, Speaker Newt Gingrich, presided throughout. And when one Democrat, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, scanned the House chamber and saw many empty seats, he loudly urged absent lawmakers to drop whatever they were doing and ''get their tails here.'' There was plenty of partisanship on display. When Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., complained that the committee had earlier released thousands of pages of Starr's material that ''none of us had read,'' Hyde pounced. He said that during the days before the material was released, Republican members of the Judiciary Committee had spent 114 hours reviewing the evidence in the heavily secured room where the documents had been brought. Democrats, he said, had spent less than 22 hours -- and only six of the panel's 16 members had ever entered the room. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the committee, was quickly on his feet. ''That really contributes to the comity of this body,'' he said with sarcasm. ''And I'm sure it's an interesting statistic that everybody ought to know about.'' Thursday's outcome was a foregone conclusion, with only the level of Democratic support in doubt. The White House had mounted a vigorous effort to hold down the number of defections as it pursued a strategy of attacking the GOP for conducting a partisan campaign against Clinton. In the end, 31 Democrats -- a substantial amount, although considerably less than early predictions had estimated -- voted for the resolution. Hyde, in his final arguments on the floor, quoted Rep. Peter Rodino, D-N.J., who chaired the committee in the Watergate era. Rodino had dismissed calls for a deadline as unwise. Now, a quarter-century later, said Hyde, ''We're not flying by the seat of our pants. We're riding on the shoulders of Pete Rodino. That's why we can see so far.''