House Republicans are scheduled to vote Wednesday to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. And behind closed doors, the Hill will wait and see if Hunter Biden appears at a deposition central to the House’s probe.

The impeachment inquiry vote is an attempt by House Republicans to give their probe stronger legal standing as they demand information from the White House and enforce subpoenas.

“We're not making a political decision. It's a legal decision,” Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday.

Earlier this year then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was trying to have it both ways, announcing an impeachment probe to satisfy the conference’s right flank, but not holding a vote as Republicans in swing districts squirmed.

But many of those swing district Republicans, some in districts Biden won handily, are behind the effort now. And as of Tuesday evening, it appears Johnson will have the votes to make the Biden probe official.

Colorado’s Ken Buck is the only House Republican on the record opposing Wednesday’s vote to formalize the Biden probe and give the House more authority to seek documents and testimony.

As for Hunter’s deposition, it isn’t yet clear if he will show up. His lawyers have told the House Oversight Committee that he would cooperate, but that he also wanted to testify publicly. If he no-shows Wednesday, he is expected to face an effort to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.

Supplemental state of play: On Tuesday night, Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell met with negotiating senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House officials, including deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian.

The meeting, which marked some of the most robust and visible involvement from the administration so far, followed comments from McConnell saying it would be “practically impossible” for Congress to pass legislation to boost aid to Ukraine and make significant border policy changes by the end of the year.

The meeting is unlikely to change the calculus on getting a deal by the end of this week when the House is set to leave for the year, but signals the eagerness by the White House to make progress and cut a deal.

President Biden's troubled son Hunter Biden is in Washington but House investigators say they remain in the dark over whether he will show up for a deposition about his father's involvement in his business deals. Republican lawmakers conducting an impeachment inquiry into whether President Biden engaged in influence-peddling scheduled a closed-door deposition with his son on Wednesday morning, ordering him to appear under subpoena.

House lawmakers advanced a resolution Tuesday to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, setting up a floor vote as early as Wednesday to formally endorse an investigation into whether Mr. Biden engaged in influence peddling with his family while serving as vice president.

House Republicans almost certainly have the votes needed to formally launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden this week.

Nearly all GOP members either plan to or lean towards supporting a vote to formalize their investigation into the Democratic president and his family’s business dealings, according to a POLITICO whip count, while all House Democrats are expected to unanimously oppose.

It was a tricky whip operation for Speaker Mike Johnson, who can only afford to lose three GOP votes assuming full House attendance. The Louisiana Republican, top investigators and his leadership team worked to win over Republicans in battleground districts who for months had been loath to support such a vote but, so far, only one GOP lawmaker seems likely to oppose the resolution to greenlight the inquiry on Wednesday.

Of course, the inquiry itself has actually been going on for months. And while Republicans have poked holes in the president’s previous statements, they haven’t found direct evidence that Joe Biden took actions as vice president or president to benefit his family’s business deals. But a new argument — which has swayed many centrists — has cropped up for formalizing the inquiry: The GOP needs such a vote to give more legal weight to their subpoenas and demands for records.

Some centrists pointed to a variety of factors that have shifted their thinking:

• They believe investigators have found enough evidentiary string that is worth following.
• They note the White House issued a letter arguing GOP subpoenas for documents and interviews are invalid without a vote (based on a Trump-era opinion). 
• Some acknowledge that they didn’t want to be the members blocking the GOP from taking this step. 

“When the White House attorneys basically said they were no longer going to cooperate with us, unless we actually raised our status, what did they think was going to happen?” said Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), who represents a district Biden won in 2020, adding that he would have been “more contemplative” about his vote if they had not been so “in your face” with the letter.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), another battleground Republican, added that he was previously a “no” vote but “the White House gives us no other option.”

The White House has defended its position, arguing it has cooperated with a tranche of Republicans’ document and interview requests. But Biden administration officials also argued, in a recent letter to GOP investigators last month, that the inquiry lacked legitimacy without a vote — basing that on a Justice Department memo from the Trump years. At the time, the memo was pushing back on then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump without initially holding a vote for it.

It wasn’t just Biden-district Republicans who were on the fence as recently as last week.

Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), who hadn’t made a decision as of last week, said Tuesday that he would support formalizing the inquiry and that it would allow Republicans to make “intelligent decisions” about any next steps.

“This allows the process to continue to move forward — allows evidence one way or another,” he said.

And the White House’s stance appears to have frustrated even the House Republican viewed as most likely to oppose the inquiry resolution: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).

“It’s nonsense. It’s not a valid reason,” he said on Tuesday about the White House letter, while adding that he is still a “lean no” in terms of formalizing the probe.

“So on one hand I’m frustrated,” added the retiring Colorado gadfly. “But on the other hand I still don’t see evidence that links Joe Biden to Hunter Biden.”