Republican Introduces Censure Resolution Against Democrat Rep. Al Green for Joint Session Outburst

A Republican lawmaker introduced a resolution to censure Texas Democrat Rep. Al Green (D-TX) for his outburst during President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

The House will vote this week on the resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), although a few other Republicans were also working to craft similar measures, the Hill reported.

“Newhouse introduced the resolution and moved to force a vote on it Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Green’s disruptive protest,” the Hill noted. “Because the resolution is privileged, leadership has two legislative days to move on the formal reprimand, and the House is scheduled to leave town after Thursday.” 

The resolution reads:

Whereas, the conduct of the Representative from Texas disrupted the proceedings of the joint address and was a breach of proper conduct; and whereas, after numerous disruptions the representative from Texas had to be removed from the chamber by the Sergeant-at-arms; Now, therefore, be it resolved that Representative Al Green be censured.

Newhouse’s resolution is supported by House GOP leadership. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) were working on other measures to censure Green, but Newhouse’s measure was “the first one outta the gate,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told a NOTUS reporter. Newhouse told reporters he was the first lawmaker to approach Johnson about the resolution.

The report states: 

And Newhouse dismissed the notion that the move was aimed at improving his relationship with Trump and his allies, given he is one of two House Republicans remaining in Congress who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

During the first few minutes of Trump’s speech, Democrats shouted almost every time he spoke. After a few incidents, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warned Democrats the Sergeant-at-Arms would “restore order to the joint session” if they kept disrupting the president’s speech. 

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) ended up being removed from the chamber after he kept yelling about Medicaid and refused to take his seat. Republicans chanted as he was escorted out, “na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye!”

Green told reporters later that he was “making it clear to the president that he has no mandate to cut Medicaid.”

It is unclear whether any Democrats will join Republicans in voting to censure Green, although Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said Green’s actions were “counterproductive.”

“I think to stand up and say, you know, he doesn’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, fine, but I think he — I think it went beyond decorum,” Coons told the outlet.