On Tuesday afternoon, members of both parties voted to reject a single progressive lawmaker’s attempt to remove President Trump from office.
By a vote of 344 to 79, lawmakers decided to put the proposal on hold. By using the procedural vote to table, members of the House can reject a bill’s consideration without ever voting on it.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who was notoriously booted out of Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this year for rudely interrupting the president too many times, proposed the resolution.
A clear indication of how highly charged the attempt seems to be is that most House Democrats joined Republicans in killing Green’s proposal. Of the Democrats who cast ballots, just 79 wanted to move forward with the impeachment vote, while 128 wanted to stop it dead in its tracks.
Not only did House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) vote to table the proposal, but House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (R-N.Y.) both joined Republicans in doing so.
According to Green, who has previously promised to impeach Trump, his current effort comes in response to the president’s attacks on Iran over the weekend.
“I did not come to Congress to be a bystander while a president abuses power and devolves American democracy into authoritarianism with himself as an authoritarian president,” Green said in a statement released Tuesday.
The unannounced bombing of Iran by President Trump amounts to a formal declaration of war. Without the consent of the representatives of the people, no president has the authority to lead the country into war.
In response to the attacks in Iran, several leftists have demanded Trump’s impeachment, such as New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In a long Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump made fun of the leftists and told them to “make my day.”
“She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice!” Trump penned the piece. “She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me,” said he.
House Democratic leaders are also in a bind as a result of the initiative. Jeffries avoided discussing the progressive movement’s demands to remove Trump from office during Monday’s news conference.
“One option being considered at the moment is to keep pressing for the administration to explain to Congress and the American people why this unprecedented action has been done. The first step is that,” Jeffries stated.
Secondly, as should have already happened, the House floor should have considered the War Powers Resolution and any additional resolutions that may be submitted afterwards. Afterwards, we will assess our current situation.
This is a perilous period that we’re in, and we’ve got to get through what’s in front of us,” Jeffries said when asked again whether he was taking demands for Trump’s impeachment seriously. The current situation calls on the Trump administration to explain its offensive activities in Iran to Congress, as there is no evidence to support them.