House Democrats on Wednesday failed to stop a scheduled censure vote against Rep. Adam B. Schiff for his allegations against former President Donald Trump of Russian collusion in the 2016 election.
Republicans blocked the Democrats’ move to table a new censure resolution against the California lawmaker that was re-introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Florida Republican. The motion failed, 208-218.
This is the second time the privileged resolution was brought forth by Ms. Luna to condemn Mr. Schiff over the past week. The final vote will occur later Wednesday.
The first attempt to censure Mr. Schiff last week failed because too many Republicans disagreed with the earlier resolution’s $16 million fine, so 20 GOP lawmakers voted with the Democrats to table it 225-196. Seven lawmakers voted present and five didn’t vote.
However, Ms. Luna vowed to bring the resolution back to the floor this week and gain enough support by changing the language and removing the monetary fine. On Tuesday night, she announced she secured enough of those lawmakers to pass the resolution.
“To be clear, this is not retribution. The GOP recently voted to refer one of our own to [the] Ethics [committee] for investigation,” Ms. Luna said. “The fact is, as you saw today with Hunter Biden and the DOJ, there is a double standard of justice in this country.”
Mr. Schiff derided Ms. Luna’s new censure resolution Tuesday night as an effort to distract from legal issues of the nation’s top Republican.
“Rep. Luna just introduced a new censure resolution against me. And Rep. [Matt] Gaetz introduced one against [Rep.] Bennie Thompson [Mississippi Democrat],” Mr. Schiff said on Twitter. “Now Rep. [Lauren] Boebert [Colorado Republican] has introduced articles of impeachment against President Biden. MAGA Republicans will do anything to distract from Trump’s indictment.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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