House lawmakers have voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, after he was thrown out of President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
Ten Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the measure. Green himself voted ‘present,’ along with first-term Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala.
‘Al Green’s childish outburst exposed the chaos and dysfunction within the Democrat party since President Trump’s overwhelming win in November and his success in office thus far. It is not surprising 198 Democrats refused to support Green’s censure given their history of radical, inflammatory rhetoric fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.
Before the formal censure could be read out to Green, however, Democrats upended House floor proceedings by gathering with the Texas Democrat and singing ‘We shall overcome.’ Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was forced to call the House into a recess after failing multiple times to quell the protest.
Decorum eroded further afterwards, with several Democrats including ‘Squad’ member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., engaging in a heated exchange with Republicans, including first-term Rep. Ryan MacKenzie, R-Pa.
The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are Reps. Ami Bera, D-Calif.; Ed Case, D-Hawaii; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; Laura Gillen, D-N.Y.; Jim Himes, D-Conn.; Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.; and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.
Republicans raced to introduce competing resolutions to censure Green on Wednesday, with three separate texts being drafted within hours of each other.
Fox News Digital was told that Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., whose resolution got a vote on the House floor Thursday morning, had reached out to Johnson about a censure resolution immediately after Trump’s speech ended on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the House Freedom Caucus had aimed to make good on a threat to censure any Democrats who protested Trump’s speech, and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, crafted his own censure resolution against Green that got more than 30 House GOP co-sponsors.
But Newhouse took to the House floor on Wednesday afternoon to deem his resolution ‘privileged,’ a maneuver forcing House leaders to take up a bill within two legislative days.
Newhouse told Fox News Digital after the vote, ‘President Trump’s address to Congress was not a debate or a forum; he was invited by the speaker to outline his agenda for the American people. The actions by my colleague from Texas broke the rules of decorum in the House, and he must be held accountable.’
A bid by House Democrats to block the resolution from getting a vote failed on Wednesday. Green himself voted ‘present.’
The 77-year-old Democrat was removed from Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night after repeatedly disrupting the beginning of the president’s speech.
He shouted, ‘You have no mandate!’ at Trump as he touted Republican victories in the House, Senate and White House.
Johnson had Green removed by the U.S. Sergeant-at-Arms.
It was part of a larger issue with Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday night, with many engaging in both silent and vocal acts of protest against Trump. Democrats were also chided for not standing up to clap when Trump designated a 13-year-old boy an honorary Secret Service agent.
The House speaker publicly challenged Democrats to vote with Republicans in favor of the censure on Thursday.
‘Despite my repeated warnings, he refused to cease his antics, and I was forced to remove him from the chamber,’ Johnson posted on X. ‘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.’
Green, who shook Newhouse’s hand before speaking out during debate on his own censure, stood by his actions on Wednesday.
‘I heard the speaker when he said that I should cease. I did not, and I did not with intentionality. It was not done out of a burst of emotion,’ Green said.
‘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 healthcare.’
Other recent lawmakers censured on the House floor have been Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
