The House is set to vote on a revamped resolution to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Wednesday after the chamber blocked a similar measure targeting the California Democrat last week.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) called the revised measure to the floor as a privileged resolution on Tuesday, which forces the House to take action on the measure. Democrats are expected to make a procedural motion to table the measure when it comes to the floor for a vote on Wednesday, which would require majority support.
The move from Luna comes after the House blocked her initial Schiff censure resolution last week. Twenty Republicans joined Democrats in supporting a motion to table the measure which was enough to block the resolution from coming to the floor for a vote, effectively killing it.
Luna, however, made a number of changes to the resolution from last week to this week, and she said she now has enough votes for the measure to be approved.
“I have spoken to many of my colleagues,” Luna said in a statement on Tuesday. “A majority of the 20 will be changing their vote to support the motion, as well as other Members who were not in town for the initial vote have let me/my office know they will be voting with us.”
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At least three of those GOP defectors have publicly said they will support the new censure resolution. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters earlier in the day that he expects the revised resolution to pass the House.
Of the changes made between this week’s and last week’s resolutions was nixing a non-binding “whereas” clause that said if the Ethics Committee found that Schiff “lied, made misrepresentations, and abused sensitive information,” he should be fined $16 million. That dollar figure, according to Luna, was half the amount of money that American taxpayers paid toward the investigation into potential collusion between Trump and Russia.
According to the Justice Department, the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller cost $32 million.
Some of the GOP defectors raised concerns with that portion of the resolution — arguing that it was unconstitutional — leading them to oppose it. But once Luna said she would take the clause out of the resolution, a number of the Republican opposers relented in their opposition.
“Thank you for fixing your bill for next week,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who voiced concerns with the fine, wrote on Twitter last week.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), who voted against last week’s censure resolution out of opposition to the fine, signed on as a co-sponsor of the new version.
Additionally, the new resolution just calls for censuring Schiff while last week’s involved censuring and condemning the congressman. The new version also omitted non-binding “whereas” clauses that says Schiff “purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people” and that he “exploited” his positions on the House Intelligence Committee “to encourage and excuse abusive intelligence investigations of Americans for political purposes.”
The revamped resolution, however, adds a number of non-binding “whereas” clauses: it cites a March 2019 letter signed by Republicans on the Intelligence panel calling on Schiff — the then chairman of the committee — to resign from the top post, argues that Schiff “hindered the ability of the Intelligence Committee to fulfill its oversight responsibilities over the Intelligence Community,” and says he “misled the American people and brought disrepute upon the House of Representatives.”
Rep. Marc Molinaro (N.Y.), one of last week’s GOP “no” votes, announced last week that he will support the new resolution.
“I respect the Constitution and the oath we take to it. These revisions address my concerns and I will vote to hold Rep. Schiff accountable,” he wrote on Twitter.
Schiff — who is currently running for Senate — continued to brush aside the censure effort on Tuesday, arguing that Republicans were going after him to distract from the legal troubles surrounding former President Trump.
“But to waste the floor’s time on this false and defamatory resolution is a disservice to the country,” he told reporters. “It detracts from the time that we have to deal with homelessness and we have to deal with the opioid crisis and 100 other challenges, but it just shows how Kevin McCarthy’s completely lost control of the crazies in his conference who are running the place.”
The California Democrat said being censured would be “a badge of honor.”
“With this crowd it’s a badge of honor,” he said when asked about how he feels about the prospect of being censured, which would require him to stand in the well of the House chamber to receive a rebuke.
“I’m proud to have stood up to Trump and defended our democracy and I will continue to do so no matter what they throw my way. But this is the authors of the big lie attacking me for telling the truth. And history will judge them to have failed to have the courage to stand up to a corrupt president but consoled themselves by attacking someone who did,” he added.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Luna’s resolution to censure Schiff is part of a long-running GOP campaign against Schiff, who emerged as a bogeyman on the right after years of leading efforts against Trump while he was in the White House. The California Democrat led Trump’s first impeachment inquiry as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and he frequently accused Trump of colluding with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
McCarthy blocked Schiff and his California colleague, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D), from serving on the Intelligence panel earlier this year. And Luna previously filed a resolution to expel Schiff from the House.
Emily Brooks contributed.