The Republican-led House on Wednesday voted against formally rebuking Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for playing up allegations of collusion between Russia and former President Donald Trump.

Twenty GOP lawmakers joined with a majority of Democrats in voting 225-196 in favor of tabling the resolution to censure and condemn Schiff, while seven members voted “present” and five did not cast a vote.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) brought forward the privileged resolution, meant to be fast-tracked for consideration, and referred it to the House Ethics Committee. The four-page resolution mostly accused Schiff of abusing his position and telling falsehoods about the Russia matter, but also mentioned issues related to the Ukraine-focused impeachment inquiry against Trump.

But a sticking point among GOP holdouts appeared to be a clause that said Schiff should be fined millions of dollars if the ethics panel found that he lied and abused sensitive information. The $16 million fine it listed represents about half the cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Schiff acted “unethically,” but the measure was not constitutional because it would violate the 8th and 27th Amendments. Luna sought to clarify that the financial penalty in the motion was a “suggested fine that can be paid with campaign funds, like any other fine levied by Ethics,” but that did not alleviate the concerns.

“Allowing a majority of Congress to take $16 million (92 years of pay) from any member of Congress is shortsighted,” Massie tweeted after the vote. “Can we not imagine a time when this precedent would be used against conservatives? Fortunately it failed.”

Republicans have long accused Schiff, who served as chairman of the committee for four years, of being a repeat liar, particularly because he insisted there was evidence of collusion. GOP frustration with Schiff led House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to kick him off the intelligence panel earlier in January after Republicans took over control of the House. Schiff is now running for the seat held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

“Today’s partisan and failed attempt to censure me is a badge of honor that I will wear proudly,” Schiff said in a tweet after the vote on Wednesday. “MAGA Republicans are going after me because I dared to hold Donald Trump accountable. These efforts to intimidate me will not succeed. I will always defend our democracy.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

In a tweet that talked about dispelling any “confusion,” Luna said she would file a new measure to censure Schiff and send it to the House Ethics Committee. “See you next week Adam,” she said.

**Recommended fine

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 14, 2023

Massie indicated he would support the new resolution, as long as it addressed his concerns.

“Thank you for removing the part that several of us thought was unwise and/or unconstitutional,” he said in a tweet directed at Luna. “Many of us are looking forward to voting for your better version.”

Vanderbilt University Medical Center ceased providing minors with “gender-affirming care” on June 1 after a bombshell report from Daily Wire host Matt Walsh last year prompted Tennessee lawmakers to prohibit doctors from performing sex-change treatments and surgeries on minors.

According to local media, the Pediatric Transgender Clinic at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Nashville sent emails to parents of children receiving the life-altering prescriptions and procedures, alerting them that the facility has stopped serving minor patients at the beginning of June.

“Your current medication prescription is affected by the laws coming into effect regarding gender affirming care,” the email read. “VUMC will not fulfill refill requests for medication prescribed for gender affirming care after June 1, 2023. … All medications dispensed for gender affirming care must have a completion date that is prior to 7/1/23.”

The law, set to take effect July 1, threatens doctors with losing their licenses while creating a path for parents and Tennesse’s attorney general to sue medical providers for providing children with such life-altering treatments.

Craig Boerner, spokesperson for the medical facility, confirmed the report to local media in an email.

“Pertaining to gender-affirming care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, we continue to fully comply with all federal and state laws and are carefully following the legal proceedings challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee’s new law,” Boerner wrote.

The Daily Wire previously reported that the Biden administration joined the ACLU and several teenage plaintiffs suing to stop the law and is now seeking an injunction to block its enforcement until a judge rules on the case.

ACLU of Tennessee spokesperson Gillian Branstetter reportedly said, “Gender-affirming care would remain legal during the course of our challenge if we get a preliminary injunction from the judge blocking enforcement of any part of the law before the 7/1 effective date.”

Branstetter referenced similar laws in Alabama and Arkansas that have been blocked while those trials proceed.

Last year, Walsh uncovered shocking videos that showed a doctor calling certain sex-change surgeries “huge money makers” and a health law expert saying conscientious objections to the surgeries are “problematic.”

“It’s a lot of money,” VUMC Clinic for Transgender Health’s Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor said at one Medicine Grand Rounds lecture, the video revealed. “These surgeries make a lot of money.”

Taylor, who was not involved with pediatric transgender surgeries, said that “gender-affirming” double mastectomies could bring in $40,000, and a female-to-male phalloplasty could bring in upwards of $100,000.

A report from Grand View Research said the industry surrounding transgender surgeries saw a $1.9 billion valuation in 2021 and is forecast to expand at a compound annual growth rate of more than 11%, bringing the industry to $5 billion by the end of the decade.

Another doctor said objecting to gender surgery for religious or other reasons should have “consequences.”

“I just want you to take home that saying that you’re not going to do something because of your religious beliefs is not without consequences, and it should not be without consequences,” said Vanderbilt health law expert and pediatrician Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton.

“If you don’t want to do this kind of work, don’t work at Vanderbilt,” Clayton added.

Following the exposé, a groundswell of lawmakers demanded an investigation into the Nashville pediatric gender clinic and forced the medical facility to halt all gender transition surgeries on minors immediately. Officials further noted that the minor patients were over 16 years old, and none received genital surgeries.