The House censures Democratic Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump's joint
address to Congress
[March 07, 2025]
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday voted to censure an unrepentant
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump's address
to Congress.
Green was joined in the well of the House by more than 20 fellow
Democrats as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution.
Green and some of his colleagues began singing “We Shall Overcome,” an
anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, as Johnson spoke. Republicans in
the chamber yelled “order” as the singing continued. Eventually, Johnson
declared the House in recess.
The resolution against Green was approved in a mostly party-line vote of
224-198. Ten Democrats voted for it; no Republicans voted against it.
Johnson had Green removed from the chamber during the early moments of
Trump’s speech Tuesday night. Green stood and shouted at Trump after the
Republican president said the Nov. 5 election had delivered a governing
mandate not seen for many decades.
“You have no mandate,” the Houston lawmaker said, shaking a cane and
refusing an order from Johnson to “take your seat, sir!”
Republicans acted quickly to rebuke Green with a censure resolution that
officially registers the House's deep disapproval of a member’s conduct.
There was also animated discussions among a handful of Green's
supporters and Republicans after the vote. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said
Democrats were upset because they believe the rules of decorum in the
chamber are not being equally enforced.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., confirmed the tenor of the exchange.
“In terms of rules of decorum, they're often violated by our Republican
colleagues and the response is not punitive,” Pressley said.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, the resolution's sponsor, said the censure effort was
a “necessary, but difficult step.”
“This resolution is offered in all seriousness, something that I believe
we must do in order to get us to the next level of conduct in this
hallowed chamber,” said Newhouse, R-Wash.
Not the first outburst
It's the latest fallout of the boisterous behavior that has occurred
during more recent presidential addresses to Congress. Outbursts from
lawmakers have happened on bothsides of the political aisle.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., noted that Republicans were silent when
members of their conference interrupted Democratic President Joe Biden's
speech last year.
Some yelled “say her name” in reference to nursing student Laken Riley,
as Biden spoke about immigration legislation that some lawmakers were
working on. Riley was killed while running on the University of Georgia
campus by a Venezuelan citizen who illegally entered the United States
in 2022 and had been allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.
“Nobody apologized for interrupting Joe Biden time and again,” McGovern
said. “You talk about lack of decorum. Go back and look at the tapes,
and there was silence from the other side.”
The resolution says Green's actions were a “breach of proper conduct”
during a joint address and that he had to be removed from the chamber by
the Sergeant at Arms “after numerous disruptions.” Democrats tried to
table it Wednesday, but that effort failed on a party-line vote.
Johnson tweeted before the vote that Green “disgraced the institution of
Congress and the constituents he serves.”
“Any Democrat who is concerned about regaining the trust and respect of
the American people should join House Republicans in this effort,”
Johnson said.
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Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, left, shouts as President Donald Trump
addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington,
Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)
No apologies
Green, now serving his 11th term, offered no regrets Wednesday when
he explained his actions. Before speaking in his own defense from
the House floor, he walked up to the Republican side of the chamber
and shook Newhouse's hand. Green said he did not blame Johnson or
those who had escorted him out after his outburst.
“Friends, I would do it again,” Green said.
Green took to the House floor again Thursday, hours after the vote.
He even read the resolution and called himself a “proud, liberated
Democrat, unbought, unbossed and unafraid.”
“I did disrupt and I did so because the president indicated he had a
mandate and I wanted him to know he didn’t have a mandate to cut
Medicaid,” Green said.
House Republicans last week passed a budget blueprint that seeks
some $880 billion in savings over 10 years from the committee that
handles health care spending, including Medicaid. Democrats warn
cuts to the program are unavoidable under the GOP's plan, yet Trump
said last week about the state-federal health care program, “We’re
not going to touch it.”
Some Democratic lawmakers skipped Trump's address. Others walked out
during it. With tensions clearly on the rise, House Democratic
leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York had told colleagues beforehand
that “it is important to have a strong, determined and dignified
Democratic presence in the chamber.”
“I think Al Green was telling the truth,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif.
He was among the dozens of Democrats who held up signs that said
“False” and displayed other protest slogans throughout Trump’s
speech.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was speaker during Trump's first
term, recalled her own memorable moment during a Trump address when
she ripped his speech up after he handed it to her following his
address.
"Everybody has to make their expression of how they see things. I
think we should keep our focus on the president’s speech,” Pelosi
said.
Trump, in an interview with Fox News Digital, was harshly critical
of Green.
“Nobody takes him seriously,” Trump said. “He is an embarrassment to
Congress but a much bigger embarrassment to the Democrats.”
Censures becoming less rare
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most
conservative Republicans, indicated that the censure vote was not
the last of the efforts to punish Green. The group's chairman, Rep.
Andy Harris, R-Md., said a resolution would be filed next week to
take away Green's committee assignments.
The punishment by censure is a rather infrequent event, with Green
becoming the 28th House member cited. But there has been a spate in
the past four years, beginning with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., in
2021, when Democrats were in the majority. In 2023, Republicans took
back the House and censured three Democrats — Rep. Rashida Tlaib of
Michigan and then-Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Adam Schiff of
California.
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Associated Press writers Matt Brown, Lisa Mascaro and Leah Askarinam
contributed to this report.
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