Some House Republicans want to see stiffer penalties levied against Rep. Al Green and other Democrats for disrupting proceedings on the House floor.
Mr. Green, Texas Democrat, was censured by the House on Thursday for his outburst during President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress. When the lawmaker was called to the well of the House by House Speaker Mike Johnson to be admonished for his actions, other Democrats joined Mr. Green in singing “We Shall Overcome.”
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, repeatedly called for order, eventually gaveling the chamber into recess when the Democratic lawmakers did not listen.
That display did not sit well with members of the House Freedom Caucus, who believed that censuring Mr. Green did not go far enough.
Rep. Andy Ogles, Tennessee Republican, introduced a privileged resolution that would strip Mr. Green and the lawmakers who joined him in drowning out Mr. Johnson of their committee assignments.
“If you want to act like a child in the Halls of Congress, you will be treated like a child,” Mr. Ogles said on X. “There must be accountability. The American people deserve better than petty, juvenile stunts in one of the most sacred chambers of government.”
The lawmaker’s resolution requires the House sergeant-at-arms to provide a list of the lawmakers who sang with Mr. Green to the speaker within a week of its passage, and for them to be removed from any committee that they serve on for the “remainder of the 119th Congress.”
Because the measure is privileged, the speaker has two legislative days to bring it to the floor for a vote.
Meanwhile, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris announced the hard-line caucus’ intent to file a resolution targeting only Mr. Green to be stripped of his committee assignments, and expected that Mr. Johnson would bring it to the House floor for a vote next week.
“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,” Mr. Harris, Maryland Republican, said on X.
Mr. Green serves on the House Financial Services Committee.
If either Mr. Ogles’ or Mr. Harris’ moves are successful, Mr. Green would be the first member stripped of all of their committee assignments since Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, in 2021.
