House Republicans have moved swiftly to punish Rep. Al Green (D-TX) for his horrid antics during President Trump’s State of the Union Address. During the speech, as a reminder, Rep. Green stood and shook his cane while shouting and interrupting Presiden Trump, leading to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson ordering the Sergeant at Arms to throw Rep. Green from the chamber. Now, the House is working to censure him.
The censure effort is being led by GOP Rep. Daniel Newhouse, a moderate Republican from the state of Washington. He, on Wednesday, March 5, formally introduced a censure resolution against Rep. Green, declaring that the House must formally condemn the representative for his “numerous interruptions” during the State of the Union Address.
Commenting on Green’s interruption, Rep. Newhouse said, “This was beyond the pale. It went on and on, disrupting the entire evening so I felt it had to be responded to.” He continued, “We have to uphold the expectations of decorum here, or else, what are we? We have nothing other than just a club that everybody comes and yells at each other.”
When speaking to reporters about the resolution, Rep. Newhouse further said, according to a CNN report, “This is about the House of Representatives, Congress, and respecting the rules of decorum that we have. You know, it could be any president, any member. This is bigger than any particular relationship.”
In any case, it was on the same Wednesday that the Republicans in the House achieved a signal victory on the issue, as they were able to defeat a Democrat-led procedural blockade of the censure motion that would have led to the resolution being killed. That blockade was a demand from Democrats for a vote to table the censure resolution, which would have meant it floundered and likely would never be voted on.
However, Republicans were able to defeat that motion. Despite every Democrat in the chamber voting for the motion to table the resolution, the Republican caucus was able to overcome some anger from the right of Rep. Newhouse, which wanted the punishment to be more severe, and unite to shut down the attempted Democrat blockade.
Now, the resolution is expected to be voted upon by the House on Thursday, March 6, and as the Republicans were able to unite against the Democrats in defeating the Wednesday afternoon attempt to table to resolution, it is expected that they will remain united enough to pass it and censure the far-left representative for his antics.
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Further, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has indicated that this resolution has his blessing. Speaking to reporters about why it is the one moving forward and why it is necessary, he told reporters, Fox News Digital reports, “I believe it is the first one out of the gate.” He added, “I think [Green’s protest is] unprecedented. Certainly in the modern era. It wasn’t an excited utterance. It was a, you know, planned, prolonged protest.”
Watch the incident in which Rep. Green was tossed from the House here:
Johnson also said, in a post on X, “Rep. Al Green’s shameful and egregious behavior during President Trump’s Joint Address disgraced the institution of Congress and the constituents he serves. Despite my repeated warnings, he refused to cease his antics and I was forced to remove him from the chamber.
He deliberately violated House rules, and an expeditious vote of censure is an appropriate remedy. Any Democrat who is concerned about regaining the trust and respect of the American people should join House Republicans in this effort.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video