WASHINGTON ― After weeks of GOP criticism that the House of Representatives had not formally opened an impeachment inquiry, House Democrats approved a resolution Thursday formalizing the process, though Republicans griped that it was too late.

The House voted 232-196 in favor of the resolution, with all but two Democrats and no Republicans voting in favor of the process. Reps. Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.) and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) voted with Republicans, while independent Justin Amash of Michigan voted with Democrats.

The resolution lays out ground rules for the impeachment process, including how much time Republican committee leaders will get to question witnesses, guidelines on how Republicans can call their own witnesses, the process for the White House to respond to congressional inquiries, and the overall impeachment process.

In an attempt to finally get the White House to cooperate with their investigations, the resolution would actually give President Donald Trump more rights if he and his staff cooperate with congressional subpoenas, but would take some of those rights away if the White House continues not to comply with subpoenas.

Some Democrats have been pushing for a vote, insisting that the process is undefined and could take too long. Republicans, meanwhile, have also been clamoring for a vote, hoping to lock in a partisan impeachment roll call now before any more damaging information comes to light and before public sentiment moves any further.

As Democrats finally called the vote Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi sat in the presiding officer’s chair and announced the total. There was a spirited, partisan mood on the House floor, which culminated in Republican Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) objecting to the vote after it was called. Griffith’s objection, which was not heard, was apparently for a motion to reconsider, which he did not have standing to make ﻿because he voted with the losing side.

Regardless, Republicans yelled for “regular order,” like a sporadic mantra as Democrats moved on to vote on other items.

During the actual debate of the resolution, Pelosi said the rules would guide the decision to impeach the president, and that the decision had not yet been made. She said Republicans were just “afraid of the truth.”

“That is really what this vote is about,” Pelosi said. “It is about the truth. What is at stake? What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy.”

For the GOP’s part, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) brought up some old quotes from Pelosi, about how impeachment would be divisive and that the House should only go down that route if there were something overwhelming.

“This impeachment is not only an attempt to undo the last election,” McCarthy said. “It is an attempt to influence the next one as well.”

He argued there was nothing impeachable about the president’s phone call with Ukraine, or the quid pro quo Trump seemed to set up with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if he opened an investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden.

But over the past several weeks, Democrats have obtained damning testimony from Trump administration officials regarding the president’s attempt to make Ukraine announce an investigation into Joe Biden, one of his top rivals in the 2020 election.

White House adviser Alexander Vindman, one of several officials who listened in on Trump’s July phone call with the Ukrainian president, reportedly told Congress last week that he raised concerns Trump had acted improperly ― and that a White House lawyer reacted by burying a transcript of the call on a highly classified server.

Instead of defending the president on the merits, Republicans have focused on the process Democrats have followed. The Judiciary Committee voted in September on a resolution saying the committee would investigate “whether to recommend articles of impeachment.” Then, two weeks later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared that the impeachment inquiry had become “official,” and that the Intelligence Committee would take the lead.

Republicans’ chief complaint has been that Democrats had not launched the inquiry with a full House vote. They’ve argued both in press conferences and in court that the lack of a vote and the closed-door depositions have made the ongoing inquiry a “sham,” a “kangaroo court” and even a “lynching.”

McCarthy, who has vocally insisted there is nothing impeachable about the Ukraine situation, only slightly shifted his rhetoric this week with an impeachment vote impending.

McCarthy has said it was too late for Democrats to act now, because the earlier information they’ve uncovered through the course of the Intelligence Committee’s investigation was “fruit from the forbidden tree.”

The Constitution does not require the House to hold a preliminary impeachment vote like the one Democrats did on Thursday. It simply says the House has sole power of impeachment and that it’s the Senate’s job to conduct a trial after the House has impeached the president or one of his officers.

In a ruling last week ordering the Justice Department to hand over grand jury materials related to its special counsel investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign, a top federal judge said Republicans have been cherry-picking historical precedent. U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell wrote that the House has impeached federal judges with no preliminary vote.

“Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry,” Howell wrote.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who famously vowed when she took office this year that the House would “impeach the motherfucker,” said Thursday that her constituents have backed her position all the way.

“I’m increasingly optimistic that we’re getting closer to the final resolution,” she said.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that the president had done nothing wrong.

“Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people,” she said.

This story has been updated throughout.