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

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.