Dem Bails On House Vote On Impeachment After Backlash From Colleagues
Democrat Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar bailed on his threat to force a vote in the House on impeaching President Donald Trump.
The shocking reason for his decision was the pressure he was getting against doing it from his fellow Democrats, Politico reported.
“After talking with many colleagues, I have decided not to force a vote on impeachment today,” he said in a text message. “Instead, I will add to my articles of impeachment and continue to rally the support of both Democrats and Republicans to defend the Constitution with me.”
Democrats were furious with the representative for placing a spotlight on an impeachment that would be doomed to go nowhere in the Republican-led House, as they want attention to be on cuts, they say, Republicans want to make to Medicaid in the “big, beautiful bill” that President Trump has asked for.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Greg Casar of Texas, Brad Schneider of Illinois, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland were seen talking to him hours before he decided not to go ahead with what they believe is a sideshow.
🚨 #BREAKING: Rep. Shri Thanedar has officially MISSED the deadline to call a vote on Trump’s impeachment, meaning his effort has FAILED today
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 14, 2025
What an absolute clown 🤡🤣 pic.twitter.com/fsugd8qHk0
The bill Republicans are looking to pass involves giving Americans massive tax cuts, but it is not only Democrats who may stand in the way of it becoming law.
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” may already be on life support in the Republican-controlled Senate, and that’s only if it makes it out of the House, which has an even slimmer GOP majority.
CNN reporter Manu Raju tweeted Monday that the bill already faces opposition from two Republican senators—Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who voiced concerns about the impact on the federal deficit, and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who opposed raising the debt ceiling.
Raju noted that if two additional moderate Republicans, such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), join in opposition, it would effectively doom Trump’s chances of passing the legislation as currently drafted.
Typically, Senate legislation requires 60 votes to overcome a threatened filibuster. However, under the Senate’s budget reconciliation rules, measures strictly related to budget issues can pass with a simple 51-vote majority—meaning Republicans only need 50 votes plus a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance to secure passage.
Republicans currently hold 53 of the 100 Senate seats, leaving Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) with little margin for error; he cannot afford more than three defections if he wants the reconciliation bill to reach Trump’s desk. Yet, even among Republicans, the bill’s specifics have sparked disputes between different factions within the party, Alternet reported.
Besides Johnson’s and Paul’s stated opposition over concerns about the deficit and debt ceiling, any substantial effort to reduce federal funding for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, could further erode Republican support. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said this week in a New York Times op-ed that he would oppose any reconciliation bill containing Medicaid cuts, citing the high proportion of Medicaid beneficiaries in his state and calling such cuts “morally wrong and politically suicidal.”
Conversely, if the bill does not sufficiently reduce safety net programs like Medicaid, it may fail to pass the House of Representatives altogether. CNN reported that Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, has made his support contingent upon significant Medicaid cuts and the rollback of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
“Does the bill meaningfully reduce the deficit?.. Does the bill offer ANY transformative changes on Medicaid or otherwise?.. Does the bill fully repeal the IRA to stop the devastatingly bad projects being implemented in my district?” Roy wrote on X. ” …Does the bill fix judicial abuses preventing implementation of the President’s agenda to deport?”
