WASHINGTON -- Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee put the finishing touches Wednesday on proposed articles of impeachment against President Clinton as the panel's chairman said he would give dissenting Democrats a committee vote on an alternative proposal for censure.
"I think it's fair to have a vote on a resolution for censure," Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., told reporters as he stepped outside the hearing room where the White House continued to present its two-day defense of the president.Hyde also said he intends to talk to GOP colleagues in the House about the case against the president but would not lobby them to support impeachment. His message will be to "keep their powder dry" until they have all the facts, the chairman added.
Hyde made his comments as the White House seemed to be gaining modest ground in the effort to head off impeachment in the full House. Rep. Amo Houghton, R-N.Y., a moderate lawmaker, announced he would oppose impeachment and support censure of the president.
White House aides hoped other moderate lawmakers would follow suit, emboldened, perhaps, by comments made by New York GOP Sen. Alfonse D'Amato on Tuesday that were critical of the drive to impeach.
Hyde's decision to allow a vote on censure in committee was largely a gesture, since majority Republicans are certain to defeat it on a party-line vote.
At the same time, it leaves open the question of whether the House GOP leadership will give Democrats a vote on censure when the impeachment issue comes to the floor, as it is expected to do.
Inside the committee room, several White House witnesses continued to argue the case against impeachment. Among them was William Weld, a former moderate GOP governor of Massachusetts, who enjoyed a reputation as a tough crime fighter during an earlier career as a prosecutor.
"The most appropriate result is something other than removing this person from his office," said Weld.