Vermont Senate votes for Bush, Cheney impeachment

MONTPELIER, VT. —  Vermont state senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised “serious questions of constitutionality.”

The nonbinding resolution was approved 16-9 without debate -- all six Republicans in the chamber at the time and three Democrats voted against it.

Bush and Cheney’s actions in the U.S. and abroad, including in Iraq, “raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust,” the resolution reads.

The Vermont Senate is believed to be the first state chamber in the country to pass such a resolution, said Bill Wyatt, a National Conference of State Legislatures spokesman. “Many chambers passed resolutions about the war in Iraq, but none that we are aware have called for impeachment,” he said.

Some were thrilled. “I think it’s going to have a tremendous political effect, a tremendous political effect on public discourse about what to do about this president,” said James Leas, an advocate of withdrawing troops from Iraq and impeaching Bush and Cheney.

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington has kept a similar resolution from reaching the floor in her chamber. She said it would distract Washington from efforts to withdraw troops from Iraq, which she says is more important.

State lawmakers in Wisconsin and Washington have pushed for similar resolutions.