-
@ Daily Kos
2025-03-06 17:47:52
nostr:nprofile1qy3hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtt5v4ehgmn9wshxkwrn9ekxz7t9wgejumn9waesqgz40js8m2nyfh5v4c9kl7lqygfpjad7jxajnreeycltr035yc4xaqpgtwuc
https://cdn.prod.dailykos.com/images/1405342/large/AP25064093956071.jpg?1741145883
The House on Thursday censured Rep. Al Green, passing a resolution that said the Texas Democrat's protest at President Donald Trump's lie-filled congressional address this week "was a breach of proper conduct." Worse, 10 House Democrats joined 214 Republicans to vote to censure Green. Green and another Democrat, Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama, voted present. (Four other Democrats did not vote.) Johnson ejected Green from Trump's Tuesday speech after he stood in the chamber and said Trump had "no mandate" to cut Medicaid—which Trump and Republicans are trying to do in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. YouTube Video The vote came amid chaos on the House floor, with Green and other Democrats singing “We Shall Overcome” as House Speaker Mike Johnson read the resolution. After that, Democrats shouted about the double standard given to Green, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wore a MAGA hat during Tuesday’s speech, which is not allowed on the House floor. Democrats stand with Al Green after a vote to censure him passes. Mike Johnson bangs the gavel as they start to sing.— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2025-03-06T15:43:49.255Z “Two Greens violated the House rules, and one gets punished,” Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri told The Daily Beast. Additionally, Green’s protests were no less disruptive than those of Reps. Greene and Lauren Boebert during former President Joe Biden's State of the Union address in 2022. Both women repeatedly heckled Biden, standing and yelling as Biden was about to speak about his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. YouTube Video But neither was ejected from the chamber, as Johnson did to Green on Tuesday night. "I saw the gentlelady from Georgia heckle the last president and have a whole heckling section there,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said Wednesday night during debate on the censure resolution. “We didn't try to censure them or kick them out of Congress or anything. We actually not only say we believe in free speech, we believe in free speech.” That's why it's preposterous that 10 House Democrats would vote to censure Green for standing up to Trump in the chamber. Just three of the 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green come from districts Trump carried in 2024—Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Tom Suozzi of New York. Suozzi said he thought Green’s protest was “inappropriate.” “I’m an old-school traditional type guy, I think we should be treating the president with deference,” Suozzi said. The rest come from districts Harris won in 2024, including Ami Bera of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Jared Moskowitz of Florida. The censure resolution was spearheaded by Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington, who had been in Trump’s crosshairs after he voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. The censure resolution could be Newhouse’s way of getting back in Trump’s good graces, as Trump was enraged by Green’s protest. “The Democrats should lose the Midterms based on their behavior at last night’s Joint Address to Congress,” Trump wrote in a Wednesday Truth Social post, adding that he believed Democratic protests are the path to helping the GOP win in the 2026 midterms. “This could be, on analyzing the full tape of this Historic Event, your full CAMPAIGN TO VICTORY!” Trump added. “In other words, Republicans can take what happened last night, and win any Race in the Country. Good Luck!!!” Color us skeptical that mild Democratic protests at a speech nearly two years before the midterm elections will have any impact at all on the outcome. Green, for his part, said he has no regrets about his conduct. "I think that on some questions, questions of conscience, you have to be willing to suffer the consequences. And I have said I will. I will suffer whatever the consequences are because I don't believe that in the richest country in the world, people should be without good health care,” Green said in a speech on the House floor. “I stood up for my constituents then. I'm standing up for them now. … I would do it again.” Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/6/2308367/-10-Democrats-join-House-Republicans-to-crush-free-speech?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main