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The
measure, which passed 230-198, was a response to the cabinet
members' failure to produce documents requested by House
Democrats as part of an investigation into whether the Trump
administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the
2020 census that would discriminate against racial minorities.
Four Democrats voted against the measure, while no Republicans
supported it. Justin Amash, an independent congressman from
Michigan who recently left the Republican Party, voted in favor
of the resolution.
The criminal contempt vote against the two Trump cabinet members
is likely to be little more than symbolic since the charges
would be referred to Barr's Justice Department.
Still, the maneuver intensified a Democratic assault on
President Donald Trump's stonewalling of congressional probes.
Earlier on Wednesday, Barr and Ross urged House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi to delay the vote, saying she should "allow the
constitutionally mandated accommodation process to continue."
"House Democrats never sought to have a productive relationship
with the Trump administration, and today's PR stunt further
demonstrates their unending quest to generate headlines instead
of operating in good faith with our department," Ross said in a
statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month blocked Trump's initial effort
to add the citizenship question. He then planned an executive
order to add it to the census, but later dropped the idea.
"Holding any cabinet secretary in criminal contempt of Congress
is a serious and somber matter - one that I have done everything
in my power to avoid," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic
chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is
conducting the census investigation.
"But in this case, the attorney general and Secretary Ross have
blatantly obstructed our ability to do congressional oversight
into the real reason Secretary Ross was trying - for the first
time in 70 years - to add a citizenship question to the 2020
census," he added.
Wednesday's vote marked the first time Trump administration
officials have been held in criminal contempt of Congress since
Democrats took control of the House in January. Prior to the
vote there had been only one other instance in U.S. history of
Congress holding a sitting cabinet official in contempt.
In 2012, congressional Republicans held then President Barack
Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt over his
refusal to produce documents relating to the "Operation Fast and
Furious" gun trafficking investigation.
(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; writing by David Shepardson; editing
by Dan Grebler, Diane Craft and G Crosse)
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