IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 198 
To establish standards defining impeachable ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ 
within the meaning of Article II, section 4 as applied to the President 
of the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 13, 2015 
Mr. YOHO submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
To establish standards defining impeachable ‘‘high crimes 
and misdemeanors’’ within the meaning of Article II, 
section 4 as applied to the President of the United 
States. 
Whereas Article II, section 4 of the Constitution provides 
that, ‘‘The President, Vice President and all civil Officers 
of the United States, shall be removed from Office on 
Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or 
other high Crimes and Misdemeanors’’; 
Whereas Article I, section 2, clause 5 provides that, ‘‘The 
House of Representatives . . . shall have the sole Power 
of Impeachment’’; 
Whereas the constitutional convention rejected ‘‘neglect of 
duty’’ or ‘‘maladministration’’ as impeachment standards 
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in favor of ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ because the 
former terms were too broad; 
Whereas Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65 explained that 
impeachable offenses ‘‘proceed from the misconduct of 
public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or viola-
tion of some public trust. They are of a nature which 
may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLIT-
ICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately 
to the society itself’’; 
Whereas impeachable ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ has 
an objective meaning based on the intent of the Constitu-
tion’s framers and British impeachment precedents; 
Whereas the House of Representatives has voted articles of 
impeachment against two Presidents, one Cabinet officer, 
one Senator, one Supreme Court Justice, and fourteen 
(14) Federal judges without providing a general standard 
for defining an impeachable offense; 
Whereas the law should warn before it strikes; 
Whereas the absence of impeachment standards creates an 
appearance that impeachment is a partisan exercise, 
which undermines its legitimacy and deters its use; 
Whereas the impeachment power of the House of Representa-
tives is a cornerstone safeguard against Presidential tyr-
anny; and 
Whereas the past neglect of the House of Representatives to 
use 
the 
impeachment 
power 
against 
Presidential 
usurpations and lawlessness has concentrated alarming 
power in the executive branch, crippled liberty, under-
mined transparency, and encouraged Presidents to fur-
ther aggrandizements: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, 
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•HRES 198 IH 
SECTION 1. DEFINITION OF PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHABLE 
OFFENSES. 
The House of Representatives declares the following 
Presidential actions shall constitute impeachable ‘‘high 
crimes and misdemeanors’’ within the meaning of Article 
II, section 4, which will cause the House to vote an article 
or articles of impeachment to send to the Senate for 
trial— 
(1) initiating war without express congressional 
authorization; 
(2) killing American citizens in the United 
States or abroad who are not then engaged in active 
hostilities against the United States without due 
process (unless the killing was necessary to prevent 
imminent serious physical danger to third parties); 
(3) failing to superintend subordinates guilty of 
chronic constitutional abuses; 
(4) spending appropriated funds in violation of 
conditions imposed for expenditure; 
(5) intentionally lying to Congress to obtain an 
authorization for war; 
(6) failing to take care that the laws be faith-
fully executed through signing statements or system-
atic policies of nonenforcement; 
(7) substituting executive agreements for trea-
ties; 
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(8) intentionally lying under oath to a Federal 
judge or grand jury; 
(9) misusing Federal agencies to advance a par-
tisan political agenda; 
(10) refusing to comply with a congressional 
subpoena for documents or testimony issued for a le-
gitimate legislative purpose; and 
(11) issuing Executive orders or Presidential 
memoranda that infringe upon or circumvent the 
constitutional powers of Congress. 
SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Resolution shall take effect upon passage by the 
House of Representatives. 
Æ 
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