UPDATE: Clinton Makes Impeachment Statement

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House Judiciary Committee voted 21-16 today to approve Article One of impeachment, accusing President Clinton of perjury before a federal grand jury investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Committee Debates First Impeachment Article Partisan Rancor Evident in Hearing Room

By LARRY MARGASAK
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Dec. 11) - For only the third time in history, the House Judiciary Committee today debated impeachment articles to oust a president. Bitterly divided, Republicans and Democrats clashed over articles accusing President Clinton of perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

Defining the dramatic debate, committee chairman Henry Hyde said the impeachment question boils down to the president's oath of office. Clinton's conduct, he said, ''cheapens the oath; it is a breach of promise to tell the truth; it subverts our system of government.''

Democrats agreed Clinton may have lied but argued he deserved the lesser punishment of censure. ''I don't believe this constitutes or rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors,'' said Rep. Howard Berman of California.

Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., added: ''This is a capital case. This case involves the death penalty, politically speaking, for the executive branch of government.''

In the same room where Richard Nixon's fate was debated a quarter century ago, Hyde, R-Ill, laid the first of four proposed articles of impeachment before the panel for debate.

Article I contends that Clinton lied before a federal grand jury on Aug. 17 when he was questioned about his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern half his age.

The same raw partisanship that has dominated the three-month impeachment drama erupted immediately. Democrats demanded that the article be amended to include the specific testimony by Clinton that Republicans believed to be false.

''We're not dealing with fun and games here,'' Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said, insisting that his Republican colleagues spell out the alleged ''lies and mistruths.''

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., dismissed the Democratic request as a ''clever ruse'' designed to limit the type of evidence that the Senate might consider during any impeachment trial.

The committee also considered articles accusing Clinton of lying under oath in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

''He lied so many times in so many forums it's really hard to keep track of it all,'' charged Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. ''For the children of this nation, this president has to been impeached.''

Majority Republicans were primed to muscle the impeachment recommendation through the committee and to the full House. Clinton considered making another public apology before he leaves Saturday for the Middle East.

Planning ahead for a House vote, White House chief of staff John Podesta spoke with House Speaker-designate Robert Livingston to appeal for a House vote on an alternative censure resolution.

If lawmakers ''were denied that choice, I think it would say something about the fairness of the process,'' said White House press secretary Joe Lockhart. Congressional sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Livingston has said in private conversations he was unlikely to permit a vote on censure in the full House.

In the midst of intense lobbying, three previously undecided Republicans on the White House target list - Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both from Florida, and Rep. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia - came out in favor of impeachment.

And a moderate Republican who has come out against impeachment, Rep. Amo Houghton of New York, became the target of of a conservative Republican who said he would run against Houghton in 2000. Jim Pierce said Houghton had ''betrayed'' conservatives.

In the hearing room, Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the only member who also served on the committee during Watergate, scoffed at the weight of the evidence against Clinton.

''This charge of perjury fails because it is vague and does not meet the minimal standards of due process,'' he said.

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, said Clinton was ''a human being'' who deserved censure rather than impeachment, saying the lesser penalty is ''right, punitive and just.''

Clinton met late Thursday with his advisers to discuss the possibility of delivering another statement of contrition to help stave off impeachment.

''That's something that he's mulling,'' Lockhart said, adding that as of midday, Clinton had no plans to speak out today.

The White House and House Republicans pressed undecided lawmakers in the Northeast. Eleven former Democratic House members from the 1974 Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Nixon sent a letter urging the current panel to take action to allow a House floor vote on censure.

During today's debate, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., argued that Clinton, ''through his conduct and his arrogance,'' had ''thrown a gauntlet at the feet of the Congress'' that required an impeachment vote.

Other Republicans renewed their call for Clinton to resign. ''If you really believe this process will cause our nation irreparable harm, I ask you, for the good of the nation, to resign and spare our country a lengthy and divisive impeachment process,'' said Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif.

Only twice before has the committee taken such a grave vote against a president, recommending impeachment of Nixon in 1974 and Andrew Johnson in 1868. Nixon resigned before the House could act. Johnson was impeached by the House and acquitted by a single vote in a Senate trial.

Anticipating the lame-duck House would have to convene for a roll call on sending articles of impeachment to the Senate, retiring Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., has notified all 435 members to prepare to return to the Capitol next week.

Republican moderates will determine Clinton's fate on the House floor. Democrats fought for their support with an alternate proposal in committee to censure the president, a resolution the committee is virtually certain to reject in a vote, expected Saturday.

Democrats were said to be ready to stiffen their censure proposal with a call for a financial penalty from the president.

Away from the drama on Capitol Hill, former Connecticut Sen. Lowell Weicker, a Republican who later became an independent, announced his support for impeachment.

''I'm sure all of us would like an easy out, including the president and those like myself who supported him, but it's not provided for in the Constitution,'' said Weicker, who served in the House, Senate and as Connecticut governor. ''Lying is lying.''

AP-NY-12-11-98 1510EST

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.