House Democrats on Wednesday failed to derail a censure resolution against Rep. Al Green, who was ejected from President Trump’s address to Congress for disrupting the speech.
Mr. Green, Texas Democrat, interrupted the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday by standing up, waving his cane in the air and shouting, “You have no mandate!”
Republican Reps. Dan Newhouse of Washington, Troy Nehls of Texas and the hard-line House Freedom Caucus all vowed to introduce a censure resolution against Mr. Green.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, took up Mr. Newhouse’s measure, which decried Mr. Green’s outburst as a “breach of proper conduct.”
“I think it’s unprecedented,” the speaker said of Mr. Green’s conduct. “It wasn’t an excited utterance. It was a … planned, prolonged protest.”
The censure vote is expected Thursday.
Democrats attempted to kill the measure Wednesday but were blocked by Republicans in a party-line 211-209 vote. Mr. Green voted present.
A censure resolution is a formal statement of disapproval that can be raised by any lawmaker. It can be adopted with a simple majority vote. The move was a seldom-used form of punishment until the last Congress when three Democratic lawmakers were censured by Republicans.
Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman was censured for pulling a fire alarm during a pivotal vote. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan was censured for her rhetoric regarding the Israel-Hamas war. Sen. Adam B. Schiff of California, then a House member, was censured for leading investigations into Mr. Trump as chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Mr. Green was removed from the House chamber after he shouted at the president and refused to stop despite several warnings by the speaker.
When he didn’t relent, Mr. Johnson ordered the House sergeant-at-arms to escort him from the room.
Mr. Green, who has announced he planned to file articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump, told reporters he would not fight any effort to punish him.
“I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me,” he said after being ejected from the chamber. “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up to this president’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”
Mr. Trump and House Republican leadership have vowed that Medicaid would not be on the chopping block, but the House GOP’s recently passed budget resolution includes instructions to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the program, to find at least $880 billion in savings.
Lawmakers on the panel say the only way to hit that benchmark is to look for changes to the health care program.
Mr. Newhouse has had a chilly relationship with Mr. Trump since the lawmaker backed Democrats’ impeachment effort in 2021. He told reporters Wednesday that he wasn’t trying to mend his relationship with the president but was “respecting the rules of decorum” in the House.
“This is bigger than a particular relationship,” he said. “This is about the House of Representatives.”
If Republicans’ censure Mr. Green, he would not be the first lawmaker to be punished for an outburst during a joint address. Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, was reprimanded with a resolution of disapproval for shouting “You lie!” at President Obama in 2009, but the House stopped short of a censure.
