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The U.S. House of Representatives formally voted on Thursday to censure Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), two days after he interrupted a speech by President Donald Trump to condemn the president’s plan for drastic cuts to Medicaid and other social programs.
A censure is a formal rebuke of a lawmaker’s actions or statements. Censures are generally considered rare — although they have become more common in recent years — and carry no punishment beyond a public admonition.
Earlier this week, Green stood up near the beginning of Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress. While waving his cane toward the president, Green heckled, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid!”
Trump’s budget proposal will undoubtedly involve cuts to the program dedicated to helping Americans with lower incomes access health care. Although Trump has repeatedly promised that his budget won’t affect Medicaid, a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis released on Thursday indicated that it would be impossible to make his proposed cuts without slashing Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Polling shows that nearly one in two Americans want more spending, not less, on the program, with only 13 percent saying that the program’s funding should be cut or eliminated completely.
Green refused to sit down after his interruption, and was removed by the House Sergeant at Arms after a warning, by order of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
Many have noted that Green’s disruption on Tuesday was similar to disruptions by Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) during a speech by then-President Joe Biden in 2022. The two received no censure vote for their disruptions.
The censure vote on Green, passing by a vote of 224-198, was cast mainly along partisan lines, with Republicans in the House voting in its favor. However, 10 right-leaning Democrats also voted in favor of the censure.
Following Trump’s speech on Tuesday, many Democrats expressed frustration with a lack of guidance on how to respond to the president’s false statements, as the party has struggled so far to mount any meaningful opposition to Trump’s attempts to circumvent Congress and the law.
“People are super pissed that we didn’t get more direction from leadership,” one anonymous House Democratic member told Axios.
“There was definitely frustration about lack of guidance [or a] plan,” another House Democrat said.
A large group of Democrats in support of Green, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, gathered in the House following the vote to sing the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” disrupting the regular business of the chamber. Johnson tried to call the House to order multiple times, but was ultimately forced to call a brief recess when the singing persisted.
Later, in an impassioned speech on the House floor, Green called for Democrats to resist Trump’s far right agenda through “righteous indignation and righteous incivility.”
“There comes a time when you cannot allow the president’s incivility to take advantage of our civility,” he said. “It is time for us to take that stand.”
Green has also said that he is willing to be punished for defending his constituents’ right to health care.
“I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me,” Green said after his removal from the chamber. “I’ll accept the punishment. But it’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”
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