The House voted 223-205, on H.Res. 21, which calls on Vice President Mike Pence to exercise his power under the 25th Amendment to convene the Cabinet and remove President Donald Trump from office.

"He is not protecting and defending the democracy itself, the process of electing the president. He is not respecting the peaceful transfer of power," Rep. Jamie Raskin D-Md. said of Trump during the hearing Tuesday night. "He is not taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. He is not protecting the republic against mob insurrection, invasion and hostility."

One Republican, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, voted in favor of the symbolic measure.

It is a nonbinding resolution that carries no force of the law.

Pence already Tuesday said he will not invoke the 25th Amendment.

"Last week I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation," Pence said in a letter Tuesday.

Democrats are expected to vote in an article of impeachment against Trump Wednesday. At least four Republicans have said they will vote to impeach Trump.

ABC News' Mariam Khan

The House is now debating the merits of the resolution that calls on Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Given Pence's announcement earlier that he is not going to do so, this debate and vote are considered to be largely symbolic.

Members will be debating for one hour, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. The final vote on the resolution is expected to begin by 10:30 p.m.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., kicked off the debate. Raskin authored the 25th Amendment resolution.

During a procedural vote ahead of the debate, the House voted to authorize fines against lawmakers who don't wear masks on the House floor: $500 for a first offense, $2,500 for the next. It gets taken out of their paychecks.

Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., told ABC's "Nightline" that 12 of the representatives who were locked down during the Capitol siege Wednesday are in a group chat to "to help each other heal."

"We've been working with each other through this process of healing ourselves," said Torres. "It's incredible that we survived."

Torres, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala when she was 5 years old, said that Trump's decision to visit the border wall in El Paso, Texas, rather than address the Capitol riots or ongoing pandemic, was personally hurtful.

"The president of the United States chooses to close out his four-year term by continuing to incite racism, promote racism and incite violence against Americans like myself," she said.

On Wednesday, Torres made an emotional plea on the House floor to Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office.

"It is not about my life. It is not about his life. Members of Congress come and go. So will presidents and vice presidents. But our Constitution is to stand in," she told ABC News after her passionate speech. "Our democracy is worth it, (it) is worth upholding. And this is the moment where courage under fire means something."

As the House begins voting Tuesday evening, some Republican members are furious about the installation of metal detectors, accusing Democrats of trying to score political points and diverting Capitol Police resources.

When Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., the top Republican on the Committee on House Administration, complained to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in front of reporters, Hoyer said, "Rodney, we're all going through magnetometers."

Davis shot back, "I just went through one. You know the threat on the interior side of the building. You're taking valuable resources completely away from where it needs to be, and you did it without any consultation with the minority."

"Don't touch me," Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said to a Capitol Police officer.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a conservative whose insistence on carrying a gun around Capitol Hill has alarmed Democrats -- and some members of her own party -- refused to allow Capitol Police officers to search her bag. After a couple of minutes she was allowed into the chamber, but it's not clear if she was searched, according to pool reporters on the scene.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel

Late Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar refuted several media reports that he was resigning early, but did share his resignation letter -- effective Jan. 20 at noon -- on Twitter.

While Azar wrote on Twitter that it was his "duty to help ensure a smooth transition to President-elect Biden’s team during the pandemic" through Inauguration Day, he did criticize President Donald Trump and called on him to more strongly condemn the violence at the Capitol last week.

"Unfortunately, the actions and rhetoric following the election, especially during this past week, threaten to tarnish these and other historic legacies of this Administration," Azar wrote in the resignation letter. "The attacks on the Capitol were an assault on our democracy and on the tradition of peaceful transitions of power that the United States of America first brought to the world. I implore you to continue to condemn unequivocally any form of violence, to demand that no one attempt to disrupt the inaugural activities in Washington or elsewhere, and to continue to support unreservedly the peaceful and orderly transition of power on January 20, 2021."

Azar clarified he handed in the letter, dated Jan. 12, last week "along with every other political appointee."

The two-page letter, in which he calls serving as HHS secretary "the greatest professional privilege and honor of my life," details the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Azar paints an entirely rosy picture, referring to it as a "remarkable response," despite skyrocketing deaths and case rates across most of the nation.

"While we mourn every lost life, our early, aggressive, and comprehensive efforts saved hundreds of thousands or even millions of American lives," he wrote, echoing a refrain from the president. There have been over 391,000 deaths in the U.S., nearly twice the number of the second-highest country (208,000 in Brazil).

He also highlighted the agency's efforts to combat the opioid crisis, electronic cigarettes and the HIV epidemic, and made special mention of "protect[ing] the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death."

Azar has served as HHS secretary since January 2018. President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Xavier Becerra, California's attorney general, to serve as his HHS chief.

ABC News' Ben Siu contributed to this report.