25th Amendment Resolution: See How The PA Delegation Voted

PENNSYLVANIA — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution late Tuesday asking Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office. Pence has already sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying he would reject invoking the 25th Amendment, the New York Times reported.

But according to multiple sources, leaders in the House plan to begin impeachment proceedings as soon as Wednesday.

The resolution, which passed 223-205 along party lines with Republican Adam Kinzinger joining, states that Trump “widely advertised and broadly encouraged” protests that led to last week’s violence and insurrection at the Capitol building, according to a report from NPR. It urges Pence to invoke his powers to declare Trump unfit for office “immediately” and assume all powers and responsibility of the presidency.

The Pennsylvania delegation voted along party lines. There was just one Republican, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who voted for the resolution. You can see the full roll call here.

Despite a public repudiation of Trump last week, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents Bucks County, voted against the resolution for the 25th Amendment. Instead, he introduced a concurrent resolution to censure Trump "for attempting to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and for violating his oath of office on January 6th, 2021."

Fitzpatrick said, in a statement released Tuesday, the president must be held "fully and unequivocally accountable for his actions" but that prematurely removing him from office would only inflame the tensions in the country.

Conor Lamb, who represents Pennsylvania's 17th district, said he supports any mechanism that will remove Trump from office. "Every second that goes by that this president holds the powers of his office, he's proven it's a threat to the community here in Washington DC, to communities all over this country and we need to do what we can to keep the American people safe. So whether it's the 25th Amendment or it's impeachment we do tomorrow, he needs to get out of office," he said in a taped interview following Tuesday night's vote.

If Trump is impeached this week, he would become the first president in United States history to be impeached a second time. To be removed, he will need to be convicted by the Senate. Some Republican leaders in the Senate have already expressed support for the measure.

"What took place (the Capitol riot) is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable," Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said in support of the resolution. It is "very clear the president did not discharge the proper duties of office."

Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, called the resolution "misguided and inappropriate."
"The majority is asking the House to assume a power it does not have," Cole said, pointing to the power of invoking the 25th Amendment that lies with "the vice president and Cabinet alone."

Trump is eight days away from the end of his term, with President-elect Joe Biden set to become America’s 46th president on Jan. 20.