House passes measure to censure Representative Adam Schiff

"I have all night," McCarthy told Democrats.

Some Democrats questioned why McCarthy had not given the same treatment to Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who faces a litany of charges and who has repeatedly lied to the public and the House. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), an ally of Schiff's, yelled out to McCarthy: "You're weak! You're pathetic!"

In response, Republicans shouted back at Democrats, with one yelling, "You all are jacka--es!"

As the speaker exited the floor, he was met with handshakes and slaps on the back from GOP lawmakers who congratulated him on the passage of the resolution.

Schiff, meanwhile, was embraced by Democrats, who also took photos with him and chanted his name.

While such a chaotic display hadn't been seen on the House floor in recent history, decorum in the chamber has faltered since the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), the only Republican not part of the Ethics Committee who voted present on the resolution, lamented the disarray on the House floor. When asked why he voted present, Buck said Schiff wasn't given "due process."

"We haven't heard his side of the story," he said.

Buck said he's long opposed kicking House members off committees. He said he was promised the House would address that issue but said it has not done so.

"We are spiraling to the bottom," he said. "We should be striving to do better."

A vote to table the resolution - or effectively kill it - failed early Wednesday afternoon on a 208-218 vote along party lines. The vote triggered an immediate debate on the censure measure, which the House voted on later Wednesday.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), alleges that Schiff "spread false accusations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia" and abused his privileged access to classified information. It also says that Schiff "behaved dishonestly and dishonorably on many other occasions."

The measure that passed Wednesday is similar to one the House blocked last week but did not include the possibility of a $16 million fine against Schiff. Luna had said that amount was half the cost of an investigation into the alleged collusion.

On the House floor Wednesday, Luna blamed Schiff for having "ripped apart American families across the country with repeated false narratives" and "sowing lasting division across our land."

Democrats have dismissed the GOP's efforts to censure Schiff as partisan retribution for trying to hold Trump accountable, as well as an attempt to distract Americans from Trump's legal problems.

Ahead of the Wednesday vote to table the resolution, Schiff said the "false and defamatory resolution" came at considerable cost to the country and blasted GOP lawmakers for not instead censuring those in the body who had sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

"Today, I wear this partisan vote as a badge of honor, knowing that I have lived my oath, knowing that I have done my duty to hold a dangerous and out-of-control president accountable - and knowing that I would do so again in a heartbeat if the circumstances should ever require it," Schiff said on the House floor, to applause from his Democratic colleagues.

Last week, 20 Republicans voted with Democrats to table Luna's first measure in a vote of 225-196. Two Republicans and five Democrats voted present.

In a statement Tuesday, Luna said "a majority of the 20" Republicans who had voted to table the first resolution would be changing their votes to support the measure this week.

"We have secured the number of votes needed to censure Adam Schiff and refer him to Ethics," she said.

Luna's measure is a privileged resolution, which means that under House rules, it had to be considered by Thursday.

"It is well within my right as a Congresswoman to file a privileged motion and hold Adam Schiff accountable for abusing and exploiting his official position and bringing dishonor to the House of Representatives," she said.

Censures, which are rare in the House, are less severe than expulsion from the House but more severe than a reprimand. In the past three decades, only two lawmakers have been censured: then-Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) in 2010 for ethics violations and Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) in 2021 for tweeting an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging swords at President Biden.

Schiff, who is running for Senate to replace the retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), has used the censure attempts to raise money for his Senate bid. In an email solicitation last week, he asked supporters to chip in at least $10 "to help my campaign fight back against these attacks."

The California Democrat served as the lead manager in the 2020 Senate trial after Trump's impeachment in 2019 for threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine as he sought political favors. He was removed this year from the Intelligence Committee by McCarthy, who accused him of having abused his power.

Schiff’s opponents in the 2024 Democratic Senate primary include Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee. His backers include Pelosi.