House Democrats say constituents have mixed reviews about the public impeachment proceedings that have entered a second week.
“We’ve gotten some calls on it but not a huge uptick,” freshman Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan told the Washington Examiner. “By and large, they are talking to me about the manufacturing issues. It’s not been huge on impeachment.”
Stevens, 36, is among dozens of swing state Democrats defending seats in battleground districts where impeaching President Trump is not particularly popular.
Stevens nonetheless defended the proceedings, which she supported in an Oct. 31 House resolution.
“I’ve got to see as this continues,” Stevens said. “But opening it up was very important.”
The hearings entered Week Two with testimony from Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams, two top aides with knowledge of the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine and critics of the president. Former Ambassador Kurt Volker testified Tuesday afternoon, and on Wednesday, lawmakers will grill U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, a safe Democrat from a former battleground district, said at a recent town hall meeting his urban constituents are eager to discuss impeachment. But his rural constituents are not interested.
“They don’t get into the details of it,” said Cleaver, 75. “They say, ‘We wish you wouldn’t spend a lot of time on it when you could be helping us.’”
Democrats are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the impeachment proceedings are not sidelining legislative priorities that constituents are clamoring they act on, including prescription drug prices, a critical trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and other measures.
Democrats insist they can conduct the legislative agenda while also investigating the president.
“They know we can do both,” Rep. Ann Kuster of New Hampshire told the Washington Examiner.
Kuster, 63, said her office receives 2,000 constituent emails each week. Some support Trump, and others do not, she said.
Many are watching the public impeachment proceedings that began a week ago, she said.
“They are telling us they are finding the witnesses very credible,” Kuster said.
But, she added, “We are doing other things. And constituents know.”
Public support for impeaching Trump has remained at about 47%, with mainly Democrats in favor of it and mostly Republicans opposed to it.
Republicans, aware of the stagnant polling on impeachment, accuse Democrats of focusing solely on removing Trump from office while neglecting critical legislation.
The House and Senate have yet to negotiate a deal on fiscal 2020 spending and will be forced to pass a second stopgap measure to prevent the government from shuttering.
“There are things we have to do that we are not making any progress on because of the impeachment obsession over in the House,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. “I heard a number of Democrats who have said they can walk and chew gum at the same time. Now is the time to prove it.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut rejected McConnell’s accusation and said Democrats have passed hundreds of bills that McConnell has ignored, including fiscal 2020 spending measures.
“The House has legislated and continues to legislate, day in, day out,” said DeLauro, 76. “The Senate does nothing. Talk to the Senate. talk to Mitch McConnell.”
Rep. Donna Shalala, a Florida Democrat who represents a swing district, said her constituents never showed much interest in ousting the president, but they are “glued to their television sets” watching the impeachment proceedings.
“It’s gotten the attention of the country,” Shalala said. “Whether it shifts their minds one way or another, I don’t know that. I keep telling them about all the bills we’ve passed.”
