Rick Scott Announces Constitutional Amendment Raising Impeachment Voting Threshold in the House
Senator Rick Scott (R., Fla.) on Thursday announced he would introduce a constitutional amendment to raise the House voting threshold to approve articles of impeachment to three-fifths of the chamber, instead of a simple majority.
“An act as divisive as impeachment must have bipartisan backing and overwhelming support,” Scott said in a statement. “It should be harder — much harder — for either political party to take the process our Founders created as a last resort against a tyrannical leader and use it instead as a tool for the tyranny of the political majority.”
Scott’s proposal comes a day after President Trump was acquitted on two articles of impeachment in a Senate trial. The House vote to approve the articles fell almost completely along party lines, with one Democrat voting against, while Mitt Romney (R., Utah) was the only senator to break ranks with his party and vote to convict the president.
“The Democrats used the impeachment process as a tool to hurt President Trump, regardless of the outcome of the Senate trial,” Scott commented. “It’s a dangerous precedent and the process has to change.”
Trump has repeatedly referred to the impeachment process as a “witch hunt” and “hoax.” The president is scheduled to discuss the impeachment acquittal in public remarks Thursday afternoon.
“I think he’s also going to talk about just how horribly he was treated and, you know, that maybe people should pay for that,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News in advance of the remarks.
