Tensions flared in the House on Thursday as lawmakers voted to censure Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) for his disruptive protest during President Trump’s address to Congress, prompting a dramatic scene on the House floor — and demands from Republicans for further retribution.
The vote on the resolution to censure Green — which was adopted in a bipartisan fashion — featured singing, yelling and warnings that more punishment efforts may be on the horizon.
After the chamber approved the resolution in a 224-198-2 vote, Green presented himself in the well of the House so Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) could read the censure measure aloud, the customary sequence of events for the formal congressional rebuke.
As Johnson began reading the resolution, Green, surrounded by other Democratic lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus and beyond, started singing “We Shall Overcome,” sending the chamber into disarray.
Johnson called for order twice, but the group continued singing. Someone yelled, “kick ‘em out.” Once Johnson gaveled into recess, Democrats and Republicans started sparring.
“You’re next,” one Democratic lawmaker yelled out.
At one moment, Reps. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) were engaged in a tense back-and-forth.
“Al was wrong,” Meuser said, prompting Pressley to respond: “Your members do the same thing.”
And Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.), who was spotted exchanging words with several Democrats, piped up and told those on the other side of the aisle that they were being embarrassing and to stop. He told The Hill that the Democrats started yelling back at him about Elon Musk and Trump.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), one of 10 Democrats who voted for the censure resolution, was spotted talking with Johnson on the House floor. She later said she had a “heated conversation” with the Speaker about punishment in the House.
“I called Speaker Johnson out on his and his party’s hypocrisy and reminded him of the many instances in which Republicans have blatantly broken the rules of conduct without consequence. He told me if he punished each instance, he’d have to censure half the House. I suggested he do just that,” Houlahan said in a post on social platform X. “Rules are rules.”
Leaving the chamber after the confrontation, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) argued that a double-standard was being implemented. He pointed to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wearing a red cap to Trump’s address that said “Trump Was Right About Everything,” which is in violation of House rules, but not facing consequences.
“We had two Greens, members of Congress, who violated the House rules. Only one of them was kicked out. And everybody’s trying to figure out, what is the difference?”
While most Democrats balked at the censure of Green, which does not carry any further consequences, the fallout from the rebuke and the stunning House floor scene is continuing as Republicans seek further punishment.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said he plans to introduce resolutions to strip lawmakers who sang on the House floor of their committee assignments, intensifying the political flames in the Capitol.
“Today, a group of House Democrats broke decorum during the censure of Rep. Al Green and, after multiple warnings, refused to heed @SpeakerJohnson’s order,” Ogles wrote on X. “I am drafting privileged resolutions to remove each of them from their committees. If you want to act like a child in the Halls of Congress, you will be treated like a child.”
The move to make the resolution privileged means Ogles could force House GOP leadership to take action on the measure.
In addition to Ogles, the House Freedom Caucus is crafting a resolution to strip Green from his committees.
“We expect @SpeakerJohnson to bring it to the House floor for a vote next week,” House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said in a statement. “Green was censured in a bipartisan vote but he needs real consequences to demonstrate that no one gets to disrupt the People’s business in lame attempts to derail President Trump’s agenda.”
The Freedom Caucus had wanted to spearhead the official censure resolution against Green, but it was Rep. Dan Newhouse’s (R-Wash.) Al Green censure resolution that won out and was adopted by the House.
Johnson had acknowledged a hunger for further retribution from some GOP members ahead of the vote to censure Green.
“I think this expeditious vote of censure is an appropriate remedy. Many, many of our colleagues have argued it should go even further,” Johnson told reporters. “But I hope that he will acknowledge his mistake, and I encourage all the Democrats to join us in this vote.”
Green said after the censure that he had not had the opportunity to talk to Johnson, but that while he “was prepared to suffer the consequences” for his actions, he did not regret his protest during Trump’s speech — and that while he accepted the censure, did not agree with it.
Singing “We Shall Overcome,” Green said, “was a response to the president’s use of incivility to take advantage of our civility.”
“The President of the United States of America, with his incivility, called members of Congress lunatics,” Green said. “Today was an act of incivility. There are times when you cannot allow yourself to be allow incivility to prevail. This was a response to the president’s incivility.”
