‘The Battle Lines Are Drawn’: 231 House Democrats Vote to Proceed with Impeachment of Donald Trump

Speaker Pelosi’s decree changes absolutely nothing. As I have been telling Chairman Nadler for weeks, merely claiming the House is conducting an impeachment inquiry doesn’t make it so. Until the full House votes to authorize an inquiry, nobody is conducting a formal inquiry.

— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) September 24, 2019

So, on Wednesday, McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, drafted a resolution formally condemning the way in which Pelosi launched the impeachment inquiry.

The text of the resolution that McCarthy introduced is as follows:

Whereas at a press conference on September 24, 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated: “Therefore today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.”

Whereas House Practice states that: “Under the modern practice, an impeachment is normally instituted by the House by the adoption of a resolution calling for a committee investigation of charges against the officer in question.”

Whereas in the past 25 years, the House of Representatives has moved forward with impeachment against a federal officer three times, each initiated by an impeachment inquiry resolution approved by the full House, not by a unilateral decree of the Speaker.

Whereas on May 12, 2009, the House approved H. Res. 424, authorizing and directing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire whether the House should impeach Samuel B. Kent, a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Whereas on January 13, 2009, the House approved H. Res. 15, authorizing and directing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire whether the House should impeach G. Thomas Porteous, a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Whereas on October 8, 1998, the House approved H. Res. 581, authorizing and directing the Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether sufficient grounds exist for the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States.

Whereas the Committee Report to accompany H. Res. 581 stated: “Because the issue of impeachment is of such overwhelming importance, the Committee decided that it must receive authorization from the full House before proceeding on any further course of action.”

Whereas that report further stated: “Because impeachment is delegated solely to the House of Representatives by the Constitution, the full House of Representatives should be involved in critical decision making regarding various stages of impeachment.”

Whereas the Speaker’s extraordinary decision to move forward with an impeachment inquiry without any debate or vote on such a resolution by the full House undermines the voting privileges afforded to each Member and the constituents they represent.

Whereas this unprecedented and politically motivated decision by Speaker Pelosi represents an abuse of power and brings discredit to the House of Representatives: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved: That the House of Representatives disapproves of the actions of the Speaker of the House, Mrs. Pelosi of California, to initiate an impeachment inquiry against the duly elected President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Since Democrats are in the majority, they control what votes happen on the floor. But as the GOP leader in the House of Representatives, even though he is in the minority, McCarthy has the ability–he is the only Republican with the ability–to force a vote on a privileged resolution almost immediately. So McCarthy did just that–he introduced the resolution as privileged and forced the full House of Representatives to vote on it on Wednesday evening:

Here is the text of the Rep. McCarthy (R-CA) @GOPLeader privileged resolution – pic.twitter.com/CMdedyGvgR

— Republican Cloakroom (@RepCloakroom) September 25, 2019

HAPPENING NOW→ I'm introducing a privileged resolution for the House to vote on.

"The House of Reps disapproves of the actions of Speaker Pelosi to initiate an impeachment inquiry against the duly elected President of the US, @realDonaldTrump."

Read the full resolution↓ pic.twitter.com/9xgYoVAl8P

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) September 25, 2019

Democrats fought back against McCarthy’s efforts, pushing what’s called a motion to table McCarthy’s privileged resolution. That is where the vote of record happened–a vote for the motion to table was a vote against the resolution, and vice versa. The motion to table succeeded along party lines, with 231 House Democrats voting for it and 193 House Republicans voting against it. Former Republican, now “Independent” Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, also voted with the Democrats. Five Republicans and three Democrats did not vote.

In other words, in plain English, the Democrats, by shooting down McCarthy’s resolution, have now formally all gone on the record in support of Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry–and the Republicans have now all gone on the record against it. Even more plainly, this was the vote that formally opened impeachment proceedings. They are all on the record now.