WASHINGTON — Speaker of the House Kevin R. McCarthy on Tuesday said he would call an impeachment inquiry to investigate President Joseph R. Biden, and the North Country’s Congresswomen lauded the news.

For months, some Republicans have been agitating for the GOP-led House to take a more aggressive tack on its investigations into the President and his son Hunter’s business dealings by officially calling an impeachment inquiry. Both Congresswomen Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, and Claudia L. Tenney, R-Canandaigua have been among those calling for the inquiry, and on Tuesday they issued statements lauding the Speaker’s decision.

“Since July, I have supported Speaker McCarthy’s consideration of an impeachment inquiry to ensure the House is at the apex of our Constitutional power, allowing us to uncover the facts on behalf of the American people,” said Stefanik.

She said Republicans have uncovered “substantial evidence” showing the President may have committed impeachable offenses. The issue stems from his troubled son Hunter’s business dealings with the Ukrainian gas company Burisma and potential abuses of power Biden may have engaged in to protect the company and his son, who sat on its board. The issue has already been investigated under the Trump administration, which closed the investigation after 8 months after finding insufficient evidence to continue the probe.

Republicans also allege that the Biden administration has interfered with the FBI investigation into Hunter’s alleged criminal activities, including tax crimes and improperly possessing a firearm, first alleging they had worked to secure a no-jail-time deal on the felony charges and then alleging the administration had something to do with the failure of that deal a few months ago.

Democrats, White House officials and some Republicans have said there is no evidence of wrongdoing in any of the matters under investigation, and indeed no concrete evidence has been found, as its discovery would likely lead to immediate impeachment.

Tenney, in her statement, said that House Republicans do possess extensive evidence against the President, including alleging without evidence that the President “likely” took payments from Ukraine, Romania and China.

“It is unacceptable that the President is making policy decisions based on self-interest and also enriching himself and his family at the expense of the American people,” she said.

The calling of an impeachment inquiry allows Congress to take on additional investigatory powers in the pursuit of potential impeachment of any elected official it has Constitutional power over. McCarthy has directed the chairmen of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to lead the inquiry, as their committees have led the last nine months of disparate investigations into the President and his family that have thus far produced no evidence.

Tenney sits on the Ways and Means Committee, and the Oversight Subcommittee. Stefanik is not on any of the committees formally investigating the President, but does sit on the committee created by McCarthy to investigate the FBI, CIA, IRS and other federal departments for alleged “weaponization” against opponents of the President. As the House Republican Conference Chair, she is also a senior member of House Republican leadership and a spokesperson for the party’s House members, leading much of the charge in the media against the president.