After announcing the opening of an impeachment inquiry last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has shifted his attention to the ongoing budget fight that could lead to a government shutdown. Despite growing concerns about funding the government, House Republicans appear to be multitasking and some are working on getting the impeachment inquiry moving forward.

According to new reports out this morning, the first hearing in this inquiry has officially been scheduled for next week.

The House Oversight Committee led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is likely to subpoena bank records of Hunter Biden and James Biden this week. GOP lawmakers hope these records will provide insight into Biden's alleged involvement in his family's business dealings and fuel the next steps in their investigation. 

Next week's hearing will be the first hearing since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) formalized an impeachment inquiry last week. McCarthy directed Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, along with Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., to lead the investigation. 

According to Chad Pergram, who broke the story at Fox News, next week's hearing likely won't go over anything new, but instead focus on what has already been made publicly available, using the evidence the House Oversight Committee has previously uncovered. However, that will just be in order to lay the groundwork for what is to come.

But, as mentioned in the quoted text above (and in the tweet below) it seems clear that Oversight will be going into bank records next to determine where the money Hunter Biden got came from as well as where went.

3) Fox has learned that the Oversight Commitee plans to subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden and James Biden this week.

As to the timing of the overall inquiry, Fox is told leaders would like to conclude this before the primary season.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 19, 2023

As I mentioned last week, I still think this inquiry is more about McCarthy attempting to placate conservatives in order to avoid a government shutdown. The fact that we have a potential compromise and stiff conservative resistance to said compromise seems to indicate, though, that it's not working.

But that doesn't mean the impeachment inquiry shouldn't happen. House Republicans essentially get one shot to make an impeachment against Biden work, and even if it clears the House, it won't go anywhere in the Senate. However, that's not the point of all this. Instead, House Republicans can continue to flood the zone when it comes to negative Biden stories, which paves the way for presidential candidates to talk about the issues that matter to voters - like the economy, immigration, crime, and more.

If the candidates aren't weighed down by the negative Biden stories and "gossip," but the American people are still hearing about it, that benefits the Republicans in the long run. They are building up their bench and still hitting Biden where it hurts.

We have polling that indicates it's already working. Biden is becoming more and more toxic, and voters are getting turned off by the negative stories and his age. Democrats are fuming over all of this, but they opened the door to it when they began pushing investigations and impeachment against Trump on multiple occasions. They set the precedent that it's not enough to oppose a political opponent, that you have to actively investigate and tarnish their name throughout their entire term.

And Biden's history makes it all too easy to do.

But there is something else I've been saying for a long time: Where there is smoke, there is fire, and the Republicans have found a lot of smoke where Biden is concerned. There is a there there, to borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, but the Republicans have yet to find it. We know it exists, but we don't know where yet. That's why an impeachment inquiry is so important here. It gives the Republicans extra tools to go looking for the fire, and they may yet find it.

Until then, however, they can absolutely flood the zone with everything they can find, and it will have a negative impact on Biden. It's politics at its ugliest, but it's a precedent the Democrats themselves set.