Title: Directing the Committee on Ethics to investigate, and issue a report on, whether any and all actions taken by Members of the 117th Congress who sought to overturn the 2020 Presidential election violated their oath of office to uphold the Constitution or the Rules of the House of Representatives, and should face sanction, including removal from the House of Representatives.
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This resolution requires the House Committee on Ethics to investigate and report on whether (1) actions taken by Members of the 117th Congress seeking to overturn the 2020 Presidential election violated their oath of office; and (2) these Members should face sanction, including removal from the House of Representatives.
It also condemns all targeted and malicious efforts to disenfranchise Black, Brown, and Indigenous voters.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 25 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 25

 Directing the Committee on Ethics to investigate, and issue a report 
on, whether any and all actions taken by Members of the 117th Congress 
 who sought to overturn the 2020 Presidential election violated their 
oath of office to uphold the Constitution or the Rules of the House of 
 Representatives, and should face sanction, including removal from the 
                       House of Representatives.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 2021

Ms. Bush (for herself, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Bowman, Ms. 
Omar, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Jones, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Adams, Ms. Barragan, Ms. 
 Clarke of New York, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Connolly, 
   Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mrs. Demings, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. 
 Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, 
 Mr. Hastings, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mrs. 
 Kirkpatrick, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Lieu, Mr. McNerney, Ms. Moore 
of Wisconsin, Ms. Newman, Mr. Payne, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Rush, 
 Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Speier, Mr. Sires, Mr. Takano, Mr. Torres of New 
 York, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, 
  Mr. Vargas, Ms. Jacobs of California, and Mr. Kahele) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and 
   in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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


 
 Directing the Committee on Ethics to investigate, and issue a report 
on, whether any and all actions taken by Members of the 117th Congress 
 who sought to overturn the 2020 Presidential election violated their 
oath of office to uphold the Constitution or the Rules of the House of 
 Representatives, and should face sanction, including removal from the 
                       House of Representatives.

Whereas nearly 160,000,000 people, or two-thirds of the United States voting 
        population, voted in the November 2020, presidential election, electing 
        President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President-elect Kamala 
        Harris, with the highest turnout in over 120 years;
Whereas despite losing the popular vote by more than 7,000,000 votes, Donald J. 
        Trump, together with Republican Members of Congress, have commenced a 
        near daily assault on the legitimacy of the 2020 election that includes 
        filing frivolous lawsuits seeking to have election results invalidated 
        and the outcome overturned, and making unsubstantiated claims of 
        systematic election and voter fraud;
Whereas in a politically motivated and last-ditch effort to overthrow the 
        election, over 140 Members of Congress, led by Representative Mo Brooks 
        of Alabama, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Senator Ted Cruz of 
        Texas, have taken unprecedented steps to defy the will of the American 
        people who overwhelmingly voted for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice 
        President-elect Kamala Harris by voting against the certification of the 
        votes of the Electoral College;
Whereas the decision by Republican Members of Congress to join efforts to 
        invalidate votes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and 
        Wisconsin suppresses the votes of millions of people, including Black, 
        Brown, and Indigenous people who turned out in historic numbers to 
        deliver this victory to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-
        elect Kamala Harris;
Whereas turnout of Black, Brown, and Indigenous voters was astounding 
        considering the extraordinary COVID-19 pandemic that has stunted 
        organizing in communities across the country, along with exhaustive 
        delays in poll centers, mass closure of polling precincts in 
        predominantly Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, and deliberate 
        efforts to discount mail-in ballots and spread misinformation on vote by 
        mail;
Whereas refusing to concede the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election and 
        raising baseless allegations of fraud in States in which Black, Brown, 
        and Indigenous people have been instrumental to the election outcome 
        suggests racial animus and a continuation of efforts by Republican 
        Members of Congress to disenfranchise Black, Brown, and Indigenous 
        voters;
Whereas senseless attacks on the results of the 2020 Presidential election that 
        seek to question the credibility of and will of Black, Brown, and 
        Indigenous voters betrays the text and spirit of the Constitution of the 
        United States, which each Member swears to support and defend, and 
        violates the Rules of the House of Representatives, which explicitly 
        forbid Members from committing unbecoming acts that reflect poorly on 
        our chamber;
Whereas section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution posits that no 
        individual can serve in the House of Representatives who has engaged in 
        disloyalty or sedition against the United States, stating, ``No person 
        shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of 
        President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, 
        under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously 
        taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United 
        States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or 
        judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United 
        States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the 
        same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.'';
Whereas clause 1 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
        states, ``A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or 
        employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall 
        reflect creditably on the House.'';
Whereas each Member of the House of Representatives must be dedicated to the 
        United States, the Constitution of the United States, the Rules of the 
        House of Representatives, and upholding the oath of office;
Whereas efforts by Republican Members of Congress to denounce the votes of 
        millions of Americans is a continuation of Jim-Crow era measures to 
        suppress Black, Brown, and Indigenous voters;
Whereas House Republicans have refused to vote in support of voter protections 
        aimed at supporting disenfranchised Black, Brown, and Indigenous voters, 
        including H.R. 1, the For the People Act and H.R. 4, the John Lewis 
        Voting Rights Advancement Act, in the 116th Congress, and the Republican 
        Senate majority has been a legislative graveyard for these critical 
        efforts to empower and expand voting rights for the American people;
Whereas the House must rebuke the relentless assault on foundational democratic 
        principles at the heart of our representative democracy and implement 
        measures to protect the will of American voters by abolishing the 
        electoral college, providing resources and funding for poll centers in 
        predominantly Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, restoring key 
        pieces to protect voters that were gutted in the Shelby v. Holder 
        Supreme Court decision, and overturning Federal felony 
        disenfranchisement laws; and
Whereas efforts by Members of Congress, regardless of party, that seek to 
        undermine our democracy, disenfranchise Black, Brown, and Indigenous 
        voters, erode faith in the Federal Government, and attack the popular 
        will of the American public without merit must be condemned, and those 
        Members should be held accountable for their actions: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the Committee on Ethics shall investigate, and issue a 
        report on, whether any and all actions taken by Members of the 
        117th Congress who sought to overturn the 2020 Presidential 
        election violated their oath of office to uphold the 
        Constitution or the Rules of the House of Representatives, and 
        should face sanction, including removal from the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (2) the House of Representatives condemns all targeted and 
        malicious efforts to disenfranchise Black, Brown, and 
        Indigenous voters.
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