With Shutdown Looming, These 66 Reps Voted to Impeach Trump Instead of Pass a Budget
As a federal government shutdown approached Friday amid a partisan stalemate in budget negotiations, dozens of lawmakers voted to allow the process of impeaching President Donald Trump to go forward.
The 66 Democrats supporting Rep. Al Green’s resolution to start the impeachment process were far outnumbered, of course, with 355 members voting to table the measure.
Nevertheless, as the Houston Chronicle reported, the Texas Democrat used the opportunity to publicly rail against Trump, adding to the existing partisan bickering related to the looming shutdown.
In the latest of three attempts so far to initiate impeachment, he wrote that his resolution connects Trump’s “bigoted statements to his attempts to convert his statements into onerous policies.”
As for examples of the president’s “bigoted statements,” Green cited reports that Trump described certain nations, in the context of immigration negotiations, as “s—hole” or “s—house” countries.
“It would not be unreasonable for one to conclude that an American race-based immigration policy could emerge, cleverly disguised as a merit-based immigration policy given that the resident has suggested we admit more persons from Norway, as opposed to … African countries, Haiti, and El Salvador, which are countries predominantly populated by people of color,” Green wrote.
The draft resolution was enough to convince others in his party to vote for further debate.
His effort received support from eight more lawmakers than a similar proposal he advanced last month.
As CNN reported, the December resolution was tabled by a vote of 364 to 58.
Following that effort, White House spokesperson Raj Shah released a statement calling Green and his supporters “extremists in Congress” who “still refuse to accept the President’s decisive victory in last year’s election.”
Shah called it “disappointing” that legislators would waste their time on pursuing impeachment against Trump instead of doing the work of the people.
“Their time would be better spent focusing on tax relief for American families and businesses, and working to fund our troops and veterans through the holiday season rather than threaten a government shutdown,” he wrote at the time.
The shutdown was a far more immediate threat when Green’s latest resolution met a House vote that showed modestly increased support among House Democrats.
The congressman said he will continue to introduce similar articles for as long as he deems necessary.
“As I have previously stated, this is not about Democrats, it is about democracy,” he said following Friday’s vote. “It is not about Republicans, it is about the Republic. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, ‘The time is always right to do right.'”
The Democratic legislators who voted against tabling Green’s latest resolution are, in alphabetical order:
- Reps. Adams of North Carolina, Barragan of California, Bass of California, Beatty of Ohio, Brady of Pennsylvania, Butterfield of North Carolina, Capuano of Massachusetts, Carson of Indiana, Clark of Massachusetts, Clarke of New York, Clay of Missouri, Cohen of Tennessee, Watson-Coleman of New Jersey, DeSaulnier of California, Doggett of Texas, Ellison of Minnesota, Engel of New York, Espaillat of New York, Evans of Pennsylvania, Frankel of Florida, Garamendi of California, Gomez of California, Green of Texas, Grijalva of Arizona, Gutierrez of Illinois, Hastings of Florida, Higgins of New York, Huffman of California, Jackson Lee of Texas, Jayapal of Washington, Jeffries of New York, Johnson of Texas, Kelly of Illinois, Lawrence of Michigan, Lee of California, Lewis of Georgia, Lieu of California, Lowenthal of California, McCollum of Minnesota, McGovern of Massachusetts, McNerney of California, Moore of Wisconsin, Moulton of Massachusetts, Napolitano of California, Norcross of New Jersey, Pallone of New Jersey, Pascrell of New Jersey, Payne of New Jersey, Pingree of Maine, Pocan of Wisconsin, Polis of Colorado, Raskin of Maryland, Richmond of Louisiana, Rush of Illinois, Schakowsky of Illinois, Scott of Georgia, Serrano of New York, Sherman of California, Thompson of Mississippi, Titus of Nevada, Vargas of California, Vela of Texas, Veazquez of New York, Walz of Minnesota, Waters of California, and Wilson of Florida.
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