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Names and Faces

First Posted: 6/16/2014 The Democratic National Committee on Monday chided a local Congressman for a statement he made on the radio about a vote to impeach President Barack Obama.
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, was a guest on The Gary Sutton Show on News Radio 910 WSBA in York County on Monday and said a vote to impeach the president &#8220;probably could&#8221; pass in the U.S. House of Representatives.
&#8220;He&#8217;s just absolutely ignoring the Constitution, and ignoring the laws, and ignoring the checks and balances,&#8221; Barletta said of Obama.
&#8220;The problem is, you know, what do you do? For those that say &#8216;impeach him for breaking the laws or bypassing the laws,&#8217; you know, could that pass in the House? It probably &#8230; it probably could,&#8221; Barletta said. &#8220;Is the majority of the American people in favor of impeaching the president? I&#8217;m not sure about that.&#8221;
In an emailed statement about the show, Democratic National Committee Regional Press Secretary Ian Sams provided a link to a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/gop-congressman-obama-impeachment-probably-could-pass-the-ho" target="_blank">Buzzfeed.com story about Barletta&#8217;s statement</a>. Embedded in the Buzzfeed story webpage is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbWaLHOmgtM" target="_blank">a YouTube video showing a photo of Barletta on the phone while a clip from the radio interview plays</a>.
<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com" target="_blank">Buzzfeed</a> is an online social news and entertainment company.
&#8220;So while Republicans are confident a political vote as outrageous and ill-founded as this could pass, let&#8217;s not forget all the commonsense initiatives they refuse to even bring up for a vote,&#8221; Sams wrote, listing strong support for such things as immigration reform, raising the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for women.
&#8220;Republicans in the House are clearly committed to playing politics and relying on outrageous rhetoric instead of doing the job they were elected to do &#8211; standing up for the interests of the American people,&#8221; Sams wrote.
Tim Murtaugh, Barletta&#8217;s director of communications, said Barletta is asked all the time what Congress can do about Obama&#8217;s &#8220;consistent disregard for the law. Some people are so frustrated that they suggest impeachment, much the same way Democrats talked about President Bush.&#8221;
Murtaugh said Barletta&#8217;s &#8220;full answer is this: &#8216;Could that pass the House? Probably. Would the Senate ever convict? Certainly not. There&#8217;s not the will nationally to remove the president, so would it be wise to pursue that? Or would it be harmful to the country? Surely the latter.&#8217; He is not advocating or proposing it.&#8221;
Murtaugh said that &#8220;rather than whip up fake political controversies, perhaps Democrats ought to tell (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid that the Senate is more than just a graveyard where House bills go to die. Ask Sen. Reid why he played politics with a bill that would protect volunteer firefighters from the mandates of Obamacare.&#8221;
Murtaugh said Reid took a bill to protect firefighters that Barletta authored and that had passed the House 410-to-0 and added &#8220;poison pill language that effectively killed it. That&#8217;s a bigger problem than any made-up controversy.&#8221;

Barletta: Impeachment ‘probably could’ pass in House