The Vermont Legislature approved a joint resolution Friday calling on President Donald Trump to resign or to be removed from office in the aftermath of the riots and sacking of Congress perpetrated by supporters of the president on Wednesday.
Less than 24 hours after the Vermont House of Representatives passed the measure, the Senate followed suit Friday morning.
Minority Leader Randy Brock, R-Franklin, made the motion to immediately take up the resolution condemning the Republican president and the violence in the U.S. Capitol.
The 30 members of the Senate, which is meeting remotely for the foreseeable future, did not debate the proposal. Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, did speak, simply to correct its language. He pointed out that, since the resolution was drafted, a Capitol Police officer had been pronounced dead due to injuries sustained in the riots, thereby increasing the death toll.
“Let the record reflect that we are aware that a fifth person has died,” Benning said.
The joint resolution passed the Senate without a roll call vote, and the only member to object was newly elected Sen. Russ Ingalls, R-Essex-Orleans.
The Senate’s action condemning the president came toward the end of the first week of Vermont’s legislative session, which has been overshadowed by the national crisis. On Wednesday evening, hours after the riots took place, Republican Gov. Phil Scott called on Trump to be removed from office — making him the first GOP governor to do so.
Following Scott’s lead, Reps. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, and Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, co-sponsored the joint resolution condemning the Republican president and demanding he leave the White House before his term expires on Jan. 20.
Sibilia worked to bring Reps. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury, and Brian Cina, P-Burlington, on board to give the resolution tri-partisan support.
The resolution reached the House floor on Thursday with 121 of the chamber’s 150 members cosponsoring it. It passed by a virtual voice vote of 130-16.
Due to quirks of the legislative process, the identity of the dissenters is a bit of a mystery. During ordinary times, the precise tally of a voice vote is unknown because lawmakers simply say ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ in unison to signify their support or opposition to a bill.
Since the House began conducting its business by Zoom, however, it has used secure voting software produced by Everbridge, which provides slightly more information. The program records vote totals even for voice votes, though it does not record the position of individual members.
What is clear is that 29 members of the House did not co-sponsor the resolution. Those included 26 Republicans, two independents and one Democrat, Kristi Morris of Springfield. Based on the vote total, nine members who did not sign on as co-sponsors still supported the resolution on the House floor.
During a meeting of the Republican caucus Thursday prior to that day’s vote in the House, at least seven Republicans expressed clear opposition to the measure and two more signaled their displeasure with it.
Rep. Lisa Hango, R-Berkshire, said she opposed the proposal and felt the language in the resolution was “reactionary, inflammatory and politically motivated.”
“If it were a statement simply condemning the terrible violence that happened in our nation’s capital yesterday I would wholeheartedly support it,” she said.
Rep. Patrick Brennan, R-Colchester, took umbrage with Democratic leadership forcing action on a “controversial resolution” and added that Trump would be leaving office in a matter of weeks.
“Let me tell you right up front, I personally think President Trump’s a moron and he’s incited this, there’s no doubt,” Brennan said.
Rep. Lynn Batchelor, R-Derby Line, said at the caucus that she also would not be signing on to the resolution, adding that there had been no calls for condemnation of Black Lives Matter protests and other such events last year.
“I didn’t like what he did, I don’t like what happened,” Batchelor said. “However, it’s not much different than what happened in Oregon and Seattle, Washington, and so on and so forth, which nobody said a word about.”
Rep. Vicki Strong, R-Albany, said at the caucus that she was unsure how she would vote on the resolution. She questioned whether news reports coming out of the nation’s capital were reliable.
“The news is constantly changing, or can we even trust our news now?” Strong said. “There are so many questions like, who did this? Who really were the ones breaking in?”
While a number of Republicans aired their concerns, Rep. Felisha Leffler, R-Enosburg, urged her colleagues during the caucus to support the resolution. During an interview with VTDigger on Friday, she elaborated on her reasoning.
“I don’t see it as negotiable that it was a coup,” Leffler said. “I don’t see it as negotiable that it was at the behest of the president and I think the day after we take our oath of office to uphold our state constitution and the Constitution of the United States, that there should be any qualms whatsoever about doing exactly that.”
She added, “I have no patience left for people who can’t even speak up and condemn the president’s actions and the actions of the domestic terrorists in D.C.”
In an interview Friday, Scheuermann said she was glad so many of the 46-member Republican caucus had supported the resolution while admitting that she was a bit disappointed that it did not receive the support of the full House.
“We don’t know if they were all Republicans who opposed it, but clearly the vast majority of Republicans did support it when it passed,” Scheuermann said. “I’m pleased with that.”
