Title: 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.
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This resolution (1) disapproves of the Speaker of the House of Representatives' decision to refuse to transmit to the Senate the two articles of impeachment adopted on December 18, 2019, and (2) demands that the Speaker immediately transmit the articles to the Senate.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 780 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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;
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
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) finds that--
                    (A) the Constitution obligates the House of 
                Representatives to transmit without delay articles of 
                impeachment to the Senate upon adoption by the House; 
                and
                    (B) the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
                refusal to transmit articles of impeachment to the 
                Senate is an abuse of power;
            (2) strongly disapproves of the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives unilateral and unwarranted decision to refuse 
        to transmit the 2 articles of impeachment adopted on December 
        18, 2019, by a majority of the House in an attempt to 
        improperly control impeachment trial procedures in the Senate; 
        and
            (3) demands the Speaker immediately transmit the articles 
        of impeachment to the Senate to allow it to exercise its ``sole 
        Power to try all Impeachments.''.
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