The House of Representatives will be voting on a resolution that details the procedure behind how the impeachment inquiry will be handled from here on out.
What We Know:
- On Thursday, October 31, 2019, the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution that lays out the process that will be used for public hearings and subpoena requests in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who initiated the inquiry had previously, shied away from a vote such as this because it would force moderate members to go on the record about their stance on impeachment.
- The resolution is intended to provide clarity on the procedures that the lower chamber plans to follow as the inquiry continues. Members of the House will be expressing their position on the impeachment inquiry which puts pressure on both moderate Democrats and Republicans.
- The House did not need members to vote to formally begin an inquiry, a dynamic that was validated by a federal judge last week. However, Republicans, including the president, questioned the legitimacy of the impeachment inquiry without a House vote. They argued that without a vote the inquiry has “no merit”.
- Nancy Pelosi stated, “This resolution establishes the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel”.
The resolution would need a “simple majority” or 218 votes to be passed. Given that Democrats are currently the majority with 233 members, the resolution is likely to move forward.
