Transcript of the
Legislative Update
For the Week of December 14, 1998

Hello, this is Ron Paul with the legislative update for the week of December 14th.

Congress will go into a lame duck session on Thursday, December 17th, to vote on four articles of impeachment against the President. I will vote for all of them, honestly believing that the more serious crimes have not yet been fully investigated by the Congress. While ignoring the serious charges, the House Judiciary Committee unfortunately has concentrated on the events surrounding the Lewinsky affair, and the administration has successfully taken advantage of this.

The odds of Clinton being removed from office or resigning are remote. The House will most likely vote out several articles of impeachment. It is even possible that, if the House votes to impeach, the Senate will never hold a trial. There is no time left this year, and actions in one Congress do not carry over to the next. The House in the 106th Congress will not repeat in January the votes just taken. It would be a strange ending, but the whole investigation may just die between sessions. The impeachment would serve as the censure, and that is something the President is working hard to avoid.

Those of us who believe the House, not the special prosecutor, should investigate charges relating to a possible impeachment will not get a full airing of the events surrounding Web Hubbell, Ron Brown, Vince Foster, Chinagate, the FBI files, Travelgate, illegally waging war, foreign government influence in our election process, and many others.

An impeached president not removed from office will be a weakened president, and it presents some dangers and maybe some advantages. He may have a greater difficulty in holding a coalition together to further move along his liberal domestic agenda, and that's good. But in trying to prove himself presidential, there may be more illegal bombings of innocent countries like Sudan. This, to me, is a most serious affront to the rule of law, and conceivably could ignite a conflict that no one needs nor will benefit by.

Economically we're due for a Federal Reserve-inspired recession. Before two years are up, this routine recession may become much worse because of the Euro-currency introduction, the Y2K problem, the spreading of the Asian crisis, and any foreign policy accident that the President might precipitate.

The chances are quite great that before two years are up, the pseudo-popularity of this President, which the media claims is over 60%, will come crashing down. Little respect is left for this President even now, but in two years, I predict that this will turn into anger and frustration as the good times fade. Presidents too often get the blame for the bad times and credit for the good times. The chairman of the Federal Reserve is the one that is responsible for the ups and downs of the economy, but by the year 2000, if conditions deteriorate, Alan Greenspan will not receive the brunt of the criticism. It will be the President, who is, the media claims, still quite popular. Time will tell and truth will win out in the end.

Thanks for calling. The next Legislative Update will be available December 21st.