The House on Wednesday rejected a GOP-backed effort to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, with nearly two dozen Republican lawmakers resisting their party’s bid to publicly reprimand him.
The House voted 225 to 196 to overturn the resolution, introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., to censure Schiff for his role in the House’s Russia investigation and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Twenty Republicans joined Democrats in tabling Luna’s measure, effectively blocking a vote on the no-confidence resolution itself. Two Republicans and five Democrats voted present.
“Today’s partisan and failed attempt to censor me is a badge of honor that I will wear proudly,” Schiff twet after the vote. “MAGA Republicans are going after me for daring to hold Donald Trump accountable.”
The resolution was privileged, meaning the Republican-controlled House was forced to introduce it on Thursday. A censure resolution requires a simple majority to pass. If successful, Schiff would have been ordered to stand on the floor of the House to receive a verbal reprimand.
Schiff, who is running for a Senate seat, called the resolution a “political comeback” on Tuesday.
“They also hope to intimidate and silence not only me, but others,” he told NBC News at the time.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., tweeted his censorship resolution support On Tuesday, as former President Donald Trump was arraigned in a federal courthouse in Miami.
Luna thumided Wednesday that she planned to file another privileged motion, one that she said would censure Schiff and sack him for an ethics investigation but with no mention of a fine.
In a statement announcing the original resolution, Luna said she chose the $16 million figure because it was half the cost of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. This investigation found no coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, although it did document contact between Russians and campaign officials and found that the campaign was willing to accept help.
Rep. George Santos, RN.Y., who pleaded not guilty to a 13-count federal indictment last month and faces a House ethics inquiry, chided Schiff ahead of Wednesday’s vote , but ultimately voted present when the motion was presented.
In a video On Twitter, Santos called Schiff’s pursuit of Russia’s probe into Trump “abhorrent” and “unacceptable to a congressman” while urging lawmakers to “preserve the integrity” of the House by voting for censorship.
In January, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blocked Schiff and another California Democrat, Rep. Eric Swalwell, from serving on the intelligence committee.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com