The Democratic congressman Al Green confronted President Donald Trump as he was delivering his first official address to the United States House of Representatives and interrupted his speech, which led to him being removed from the premises. However, the Texas representative did not have full support from his party colleagues on Thursday when they voted to censure him for disrupting the words of the Republican president.
The Republican-majority House voted to censure Al Green. The result was 224-198 with 10 Democratic votes joining those of the Republicans to apply the sanction to the 77-year-old Texan, as reported by NBC News.
Censorship is a form of disapproval, although it does not remove any rights or privileges as a representative. However, the aforementioned media outlet highlighted that “the far-right House Freedom Caucus, which had been competing to introduce its own resolution to censure Green, said after the vote that its members plan to introduce another resolution seeking to remove him from the House Financial Services Committee. The group said on X that they hope Johnson will bring the resolution to the floor next week.”
With the 10 Democrats who voted against Green, there were 205 others from this party who did support him, rejecting the censure against him.
The 10 Democrats who voted to censor Green are all moderates: Ami Bera and Jim Costa, from California; Ed Case, from Hawaii; Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, both from New York; Jim Himes from Connecticut; Chrissy Houlahan, from Pennsylvania; Marcy Kaptur, from Ohio; Jared Moskowitz, from Florida; and Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, from Washington.
Support for Congressman Al Green after he confronted Trump
Controversy was felt in the middle of the House of Representatives. NBC News describes that while they were voting, Al Green stood in the middle of the central aisle. The task of reading the censure resolution was given to the chairman of the committee, Mike Johnson.
Green stood at the well of the Chamber and meanwhile, members of the Congressional Black Caucus surrounded him singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ as a sign of support. The speaker insisted that they be quiet, but they continued singing in support of the congressman, well-known for his role in defending civil rights.
“Order, order,” shouted the Republicans in the room, joining the voice of the speaker.
Green is one of the congressmen with a strong stance against Donald Trump, and that is why he has introduced several resolutions to impeach him. He has also stated that he will persist in doing so this year.