In the wake of the Thursday, March 6 vote in the House of Representatives to censure Rep. Al Greene, a heated screaming match broke out on the floor of the House of Representatives over the situation, with “Squad” Democrats shouting at Republicans as Republicans demanded the Democrats return to order and stop singing.
Precipitating the screaming match was the vote in the House to censure Rep. Green for his rude display during the State of the Union address. For reference, he stood up and shook his cane as President Trump tried to speak, leading to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson ordering the House Sergeant at Arms to remove him from the proceeding.
Then, Rep. Newhouse, something of a moderate, introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Green. He also commented on the siutuation in a statement, saying, ABC 7 NY reports, “Decorum and order are the institutional grounds for the way we do business in the United States Congress, and the sheer disregard for that standard during President Trump’s address by the gentleman from Texas is unacceptable.” He added, “A Member’s refusal to adhere to the Speaker’s direction to cease such behavior, regardless of their party, has and will continue to be reprimanded in the people’s House.”
Speaker Johnson, that same outlet reports, agreed with the censure vote, saying that the House needs decorum. As he put it: “I want us to have proper decorum. I want us to maintain really the great tradition of this institution. And these things do damage to it and I’m sorry that it happened.” Johnson added, ABC 7 NY reports, “He chose to deliberately violate House rules in a manner that we think is probably unprecedented in history — interrupting a message of a president of the United States, who is an honored guest,”
Rep. Green, for his part, ABC 7 NY reports, said that while he would do the SOTU display again, he isn’t angry with his Republican colleagues for censuring him. He said, “I am not angry with the speaker. I am not angry with the officers. I am not upset with the members who are going to bring the motions or resolutions to sanction. I will suffer the consequences.”
In any case, what happened was that when the vote to censure Rep. Green was successful, the Democrats in the House proceeded to get up and join Rep. Green toward the front of the House, in between the Speaker’s stand and the seating for the members. They then started singing, awkwardly belting out the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”
Republicans, in turn, started yelling at them and declared “order.” That, then, took things up a notch and the Squad Democrats started screaming back at Republicans, dialing up the heat. Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, for example, screamed back, “Shame on you!” Joining her, fellow Democratic Squad Rep. Rashida Tlaib shouted and screamed at those Republicans who were calling for order. Watch the incident here:
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Rep. Green, after the incident, took to X to post the video of the screaming match and caption it, “Today, the House GOP censured me for speaking out for the American people against @POTUS’s plan to cut Medicaid. I accept the consequences of my actions, but I refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. #WeShallOvercome”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video