On Wednesday morning, the House of Representatives fought off a pair of Republican attempts to derail the session, then opened debate on a motion on the rules under which the full House debate on the impeachment of Donald Trump will take place. Those rules were first subject to a series of statements, with House Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern handing out speaking time and fending off a series of completely out of order and openly pointless Republican attempts to amend the rules during the debate period.
During this opening session, Judiciary Committee ranking member Tom Cole repeatedly squirreled away time, saying that he was waiting on a speaker “not present.” But if that speaker ever appeared, it wasn’t clear, because Cole eventually consumed his remaining time himself while repeating earlier statements.
Two Democratic votes came in against the rules, likely from Collin Peterson, who has voiced disagreement with the party, and from Jeff Van Drew, who is holding off on his flip from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party so the GOP can make a claim of there being bipartisan votes against impeachment. Both Peterson and Van Drew voted against opening the inquiry. Former Republican Justin Amash voted with the Democrats.
Following the initial vote to end debate on the rules for consideration of impeachment, the vote immediately moved to a roll call on the rules themselves. Which was a repeat of the earlier vote.
So now the House moves on to actual debate of the articles of impeachment.
Wednesday, Dec 18, 2019 · 5:22:40 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Nancy Pelosi opens the debate with a rousing speech that opens with "I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the President of the United States. If we don’t act, we would be derelict in our duty. He gave us no choice."
Pelosi not only cites the founding fathers, but touchingly references statements from the recently departed Rep. Elijah Cummings. And finishes to a round of applause.
Wednesday, Dec 18, 2019 · 5:39:33 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Rep. Mike Johnson is making me terrified ... that the Republicans really don't have any better case to make. That they'll just keep retreading failed statements that fell flat in committee.
Because, damn. I have to listen to this for the next six hours.