House Republicans are preparing to formally reprimand Democratic Rep. Al Green for heckling Donald Trump during his longest ever presidential address to Congress.
The right-wing House Freedom Caucus is leading the charge with a censure resolution. But other Republicans are filing their own measures to take disciplinary action against the 77-year-old Texas Democrat.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) announced the group is introducing its resolution immediately, citing what he called Green’s “complete lack of decorum.”
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Green was escorted out of the chamber by the House Sergeant at Arms—at the direction of Speaker Mike Johnson—after he interrupted Trump’s speech, waving his cane in the direction of the president and yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”
Johnson agreed Tuesday night after the president’s speech that Green “should be censured,” calling his vocal protest “absolutely shameful.”
“It’s a spectacle that was not necessary,” Johnson said. “He’s made history in a terrible way, and I hope he enjoys it.”
Republicans, including Reps. Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene, yelled at Green to “sit down” following his interruption.
Republican Reps. Troy Nehls and Dan Newhouse are offering competing censure resolutions against the Texas Democrat.
Green said he had no regrets about his decision to disrupt the president. “I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me,” he told reporters after he was removed from the House chamber. “I didn’t say to anyone, ‘don’t punish me.' I’ve said I’ll accept the punishment.”
Green was the only Democrat who was removed from the chamber, but several progressive members held up signs during Trump’s speech that read “MUSK STEALS,” “SAVE MEDICAID” and “FALSE.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan wrote messages on a whiteboard throughout the record-shattering 99-minute speech, including, “NO KING” and “LIES.”
Members of Congress heckling presidents has become more commonplace since Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina famously shouted “you lie!” at President Barack Obama in 2009 during his first address to a joint session of Congress.
A number of lawmakers and political observers expressed a desire for a return to decorum during State of the Union-style speeches. Tuesday night’s speech, falling on a presidential inauguration year, was Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress since becoming president for a second time on Jan. 20.
“I’m saddened that every [speech] sets a new low bar for decorum,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told the Daily Beast. “Both parties have contributed to this over time. But tonight was worst yet. When people can’t applaud a teenage boy cancer survivor something is way wrong.”
“It might create a university press biography about Al Green that never would have been written, because it is a moment in history, but it’s not something that the Democrats can score points on,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.
