House passes 25th Amendment measure
“I think every member in this body should be able to agree that this president is not meeting the most minimal duties of office.” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed a nonbinding measure Tuesday night calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Donald Trump from office.
One Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, joined all Democrats in voting 223-205 to pass the largely symbolic measure. The nonbinding measure does not require Senate approval, and Pence has said he won’t invoke the amendment.
The measure comes as a growing number of Republicans came out in support of Trump’s impeachment. Top House Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, were absent Tuesday as the chamber debated whether Trump should be removed by the 25th Amendment.
In the debate before the measure passed, Democrats outlined the terror they and others experienced last week and expressed a sense of duty in acting to both condemn and oust Trump in the aftermath. Democrats repeatedly noted the poor precedent it would send by not acting after a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., called the past several days a “dark week” but one that made clear every member of Congress’ oath to uphold the country.
“The gleeful desecration of the Capitol and the violence against Congress our staff and our workers are horrors that will forever stain our nation’s history,” Pelosi said on the House floor. “The president’s actions demonstrate his absolute inability to discharge the most basic and fundamental powers and duties of his office. Therefore, the president must be removed from office immediately.”
Under the fourth section of the 25th Amendment, if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet determine the president cannot fulfill his or her duties, then power is transferred to the vice president. It has never been used.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said his legislation calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment should be an easy vote for both sides.
“I think every member in this body should be able to agree that this president is not meeting the most minimal duties of office,” Raskin said.
The resolution urges Pence to “convene and mobilize” the Cabinet to “declare what is obvious to a horrified nation” – that Trump is unable to serve.
But Pence will not invoke the 25th Amendment, he told Pelosi in a letter Tuesday. The vice president praised Pelosi and other top congressional leaders for their leadership but told them invoking the 25th Amendment would not be “in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution.”
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., backed Trump on the House floor. “I’ve read that speech,” McClintock said of Trump’s remarks to supporters Jan. 6 before they marched to the Capitol. “He never suggested rampaging the Capitol and disrupting the Congress. He urged them to, and this is an exact quote, ‘peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.’ ”
Rep. Jim Jordan, close Trump ally, called the actions of Democrats “scary,” explaining that the effort to oust Trump was just part of “canceling all the people you guys disagree with.”