(8 of 9)
"At the moment," says one G.O.P. leader, "there are not more than one or two Republicans on that committee who are inclined to support an impeachment resolution." One or two are not enough. It is generally agreed that at least six of the 17 Republicans on the committee must endorse the resolution before the Democrats dare risk sending it to the floor. Otherwise, unless one or more charges are clear-cut and proved, the Democrats would leave themselves open to the accusation of partisanship. In that case, not enough Republicans would support impeachment in the final vote —though the Democrats could force it through by simple majority—to convince the American people that the Democrats were not simply voting to oust a Republican nemesis.
And if a badly divided House sent charges against the President to the Senate, the leadership there might not be able to get the necessary support—two-thirds of the members present at the time of voting—to find Nixon guilty. As matters now stand, Republican leaders feel that no more than 44 Senators would favor conviction on the weight of the evidence available thus far.
While the House has been struggling with impeachment, the Senate has adopted an attitude of watchful waiting on the issue. Neither Majority Leader Mike Mansfield nor Minority Leader Hugh Scott has even allowed any time for an impeachment trial in their advance planning for the year. "I don't think the House will impeach," says Scott flatly. In an effort to keep wavering Republicans in line, Scott has warned: "History does not deal gently with regicides." For his part, Mansfield hopes that the House will not impeach "because politically it will help no one, and it will hurt the country."
But even Senate Republicans admit that chances for impeachment would vastly increase if another Watergate bombshell burst over Nixon's head. Says one key Republican: "If, for example, it were shown that the President had anything to do with the 18-minute erasure, or that he was directly involved in any other aspect of the coverup, all bets against impeachment would be off."
O'Neill is not waiting for a bombshell to remove the problem. And as he harries along the impeachment proceedings, he has other problems to worry about. A long agenda of important legislation looms. Congress has yet to pass an emergency energy bill to give the President broad powers to cope with the fuel shortage. In the wake of Watergate, there are bills to tighten the income tax laws and to provide federal financing for political campaigns. A trade bill is pending to give the President the power to negotiate worldwide agreements easing the flow of goods. There is rising sentiment for national health insurance. And up ahead is another fight over the size and shape of the military budget.
On the Prowl. As the Congressmen returned to the House last week, they came under pressure from lobbyists on both sides of the issue of impeachment, the most powerful by far being AFL-CIO President George Meany, who is now dead set against the President he helped elect in 1972. If Nixon does not resign, Meany wants him impeached and tried. The American people, he says, "have a right to know whether or not their President is a liar."