The House censures Democratic Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump’s joint address to Congress
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Thursday voted to censure an unrepentant Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump's address to Congress.
Green was joined in the well of the House by more than 20 fellow Democrats as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution. Green and some of his colleagues began singing "We Shall Overcome," an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, as Johnson spoke. Republicans in the chamber yelled "order" as the singing continued. Eventually, Johnson declared the House in recess.
The resolution against Green was approved in a mostly party-line vote of 224-198. Ten Democrats voted for it; no Republicans voted against it.
Johnson had Green removed from the chamber during the early moments of Trump's speech Tuesday night. Green stood and shouted at Trump after the Republican president said the Nov. 5 election had delivered a governing mandate not seen for many decades.
"You have no mandate," the Houston lawmaker said, shaking a cane and refusing an order from Johnson to "take your seat, sir!"
Republicans acted quickly to rebuke Green with a censure resolution that officially registers the House's deep disapproval of a member's conduct.
There was also animated discussions among a handful of Green's supporters and Republicans after the vote. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said Democrats were upset because they believe the rules of decorum in the chamber are not being equally enforced.
"They just felt that the rules get forced on them more strictly than perhaps Republicans or others," Meuser said.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., confirmed the tenor of the exchange.
"Well, what we were just speaking about is that there is not, in terms of rules of decorum, they're often violated by our Republican colleagues and the response is not punitive," Pressley said.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, the resolution's sponsor, said the censure effort was a "necessary, but difficult step."
"This resolution is offered in all seriousness, something that I believe we must do in order to get us to the next level of conduct in this hallowed chamber," said Newhouse, R-Wash.
It's the latest fallout of the boisterous behavior that has occurred during more recent presidential addresses to Congress. Outbursts from lawmakers have happened on bothsides of the political aisle.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., noted that Republicans were silent when members of their conference interrupted Democratic President Joe Biden's speech last year.
Some yelled "say her name" in reference to nursing student Laken Riley, as Biden spoke about immigration legislation that some lawmakers were working on. Riley was killed while running on the University of Georgia campus by a Venezuelan citizen who illegally entered the United States in 2022 and had been allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.
"Nobody apologized for interrupting Joe Biden time and again," McGovern said. "You talk about lack of decorum. Go back and look at the tapes, and there was silence from the other side."