GOP Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee formally moved Thursday to force Democrats who prevented the public reading of a resolution censuring Rep. Al Green to face a punishment of their own.
The House had earlier voted 224 to 198 to censure Green as punishment for disrupting President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday.
Ten Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans to support the censure resolution. Two Democrats voted “present”: Green, a Texas congressman with 20 years in the House; and Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama, a lawmaker in his first term.
However, as House Speaker Mike Johnson was announcing passage of the resolution, a group of Democratic lawmakers gathered around Green in the well of the House and sang, “We Shall Overcome” — an anthem of the civil rights movement.
Johnson repeatedly tried to gavel the House to order, but the Democratic lawmakers continued to sing and would not disperse.
Eventually, the speaker declared the House in recess.
According to Politico, after a member has been censured, he or she is supposed to stand in the well as the censure resolution is read, but the protest prevented that from happening.
U.S. House censures @RepAlGreen for his conduct during President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, 224-198-2. pic.twitter.com/KTFxsbow77
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 6, 2025
Ogles’ resolution calls for the members who participated in the protest to be “removed from their committee assignments in light of conduct they exhibited on the floor of the House.”
The document directs the House sergeant at arms to provide a list of the affected representatives within a week and for them to be removed from their committee assignments for the remainder of the 119th Congress.
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) March 6, 2025
“There must be accountability,” Ogles wrote in a post on the social media platform X. “The American people deserve better than petty, juvenile stunts in one of the most sacred chambers of government.”
The lawmaker added, “If you want to act like a child in the Halls of Congress, you will be treated like a child.”
There must be accountability. The American people deserve better than petty, juvenile stunts in one of the most sacred chambers of government.
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) March 6, 2025
Ogles, an outspoken Trump supporter, was just as blunt in an interview, according to Fox News.
“We have a country to run,” he said.
Do you support Rep. Andy Ogles’ resolution?
“The failed policies of Joe Biden is why they lost the House, why they lost the Senate, why they lost the presidency. They can lick their wounds all day, but they still have to behave on the House floor.”
Ogles’ resolution could be voted on next week, Fox reported.
Green was censured for standing up shortly into Trump’s address on Tuesday night and calling out, “You don’t have a mandate!” The congressman then refused to sit down as he continued to yell from the House floor.
Johnson reminded Green of the rules of decorum required by members during the address, but when he refused to comply and take his seat, the speaker instructed the House sergeant at arms to remove him.
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