IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 780 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that upon adoption 

by the House, the Speaker of the House is required to transmit without 

delay articles of impeachment to the Senate and must do so immediately. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2020 

Mr. MEADOWS (for himself, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina, Mr. 

TIMMONS, Mr. GOODEN, Mr. ARMSTRONG, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. CLINE, 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. WALKER, Mr. JOHN W. ROSE of Tennessee, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. GIBBS, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. 

HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. YOHO, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. SPANO, Mr. 

MEUSER, Mr. GOHMERT, and Mr. RIGGLEMAN) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ethics, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

upon adoption by the House, the Speaker of the House 

is required to transmit without delay articles of impeachment to the Senate and must do so immediately. 

Whereas the Constitution grants the ‘‘sole Power of Impeachment’’ to the House of Representatives as a body, not to 

the Speaker or any individual Representative; 


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•HRES 780 IH 

Whereas, on December 18, 2019, in a purely partisan vote, 

a majority of the House of Representatives voted to 

adopt 2 articles of impeachment against Donald John 

Trump, President of the United States; 

Whereas shortly after the House of Representatives voted to 

adopt the 2 articles of impeachment, Speaker of the 

House Nancy Pelosi unilaterally decided to withhold 

transmitting the articles pending information on the Senate’s trial procedures while stating ‘‘right now the president is impeached’’; 

Whereas the House of Representatives completes its constitutionally mandated impeachment functions upon adopting 

an article of impeachment; 

Whereas the Constitution grants the Senate the ‘‘sole Power 

to try all Impeachments’’; and 

Whereas the Constitution provides, and the Supreme Court 

has affirmed, that the Senate has wide discretion to determine the procedures for conducting an impeachment 

trial: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) finds that— 

3 (A) the Constitution obligates the House of 

4 Representatives to transmit without delay arti5 cles of impeachment to the Senate upon adop6 tion by the House; and 

7 (B) the Speaker of the House of Rep8 resentatives refusal to transmit articles of im9 peachment to the Senate is an abuse of power; 


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•HRES 780 IH 

1 (2) strongly disapproves of the Speaker of the 

2 House of Representatives unilateral and unwar3 ranted decision to refuse to transmit the 2 articles 

4 of impeachment adopted on December 18, 2019, by 

5 a majority of the House in an attempt to improperly 

6 control impeachment trial procedures in the Senate; 

7 and 

8 (3) demands the Speaker immediately transmit 

9 the articles of impeachment to the Senate to allow 

10 it to exercise its ‘‘sole Power to try all Impeach11 ments.’’. 

Æ 


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