WASHINGTON — Republicans Thursday passed the censure of Rep. Al Green (R-TX), who had an outburst during President Donald Trump's joint session in Congress on Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson had Green removed from the chamber.
Trump told the crowd that he has a mandate to make massive government cuts, and Green yelled back that he doesn't have a mandate.
While outbursts have occurred more frequently in the past few decades, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told Raw Story on Thursday morning that a censure is an extreme punishment.
"The precedence for these censures is not being followed," she said.
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She said that she found what Green did to be "inappropriate."
"Censure is the toughest absent expulsion," Lofgren said. "And it has not been used in this context. But Al's behavior was outrageous."
Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) also disagreed with Green's actions, but he said it's a distraction.
"It's exactly what Trump wanted him to do," Bera said. "And then all of the sudden the press is writing about that and not about the content of the speech."
Instead of dealing with the tens of thousands of cuts to the Veterans Administration, Republicans can use Green to distract from "Trump's actions."
Lofgren concurred, saying, "I think most people would rather we do something about the cost of living than this."
In the era of fighting back against Trump, Bera said Democrats need to be smarter.
"We can't afford self-inflicted things like that. It undermines what we want to do, which is keep our focus on what Trump's actually doing, and instead you guys are asking me about Al Green," he told Raw Story. "We can't let our own caucus become a distraction."
In 2023, Republicans attacked three Democrats, demanding that they be censured for various reasons. One was Rep. Adam Schiff (R-CA), who worked on the first impeachment of Donald Trump and went on to become a U.S. Senator.
In 2021, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) was censured for posting an anime video depicting himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Before that, the previous censures were in 2010 and 1983.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) told the Associated Press Wednesday, "Where were my Republican friends? Nobody apologized for interrupting Joe Biden time and again. You talk about lack of decorum. Go back and look at the tapes, and there was silence from the other side.”
After leaving the floor, Green told ABC 7 LA that he would accept any punishment but that the issue isn't about him.
"This is about the people who are going to suffer if Medicaid is cut. If Social Security is cut," he said.
He said that sometimes it's "better to stand alone than not to stand at all."