A resolution to reprimand Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, survived a procedural hurdle late Wednesday afternoon, teeing the measure up for a House-wide vote.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., introduced a censure resolution against the Texas Democrat earlier in the day amid widespread GOP anger at Democrats who protested President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday.
Democrats pushed for a vote to table the resolution, which would have effectively killed it. But it failed to pass, and a vote on the measure itself is expected sometime this week.
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Fox News Digital was told that Newhouse had been in contact with House GOP leadership about his resolution since Trump’s speech ended last night.
There had been multiple resolutions circulating among House Republicans to censure Green for interrupting Trump’s speech, but Newhouse’s appears to be the measure with House GOP leaders’ blessing.
“I believe it is the first one out of the gate,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Wednesday morning. “I think [Green’s protest is] unprecedented. Certainly in the modern era. It wasn’t an excited utterance. It was a, you know, planned, prolonged protest.”
The 77-year-old Democrat was removed from Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night after repeatedly disrupting the beginning of the president’s speech.
He shouted, “You have no mandate!,” at Trump as he touted Republican victories in the House, Senate and White House.
Johnson had Green removed by the U.S. Sergeant-at-Arms.
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Green remained defiant when he stopped to speak with the White House press pool on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol after being thrown out of the second floor House chamber, where Trump was speaking.
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“I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me. I didn’t say to anyone, ‘don’t punish me.’ I’ve said I’ll accept the punishment,” Green said, according to the White House press pool report. “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.”
In addition to Newhouse’s resolution, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, has his own measure with more than 30 House GOP co-sponsors.
The House Freedom Caucus is backing a third censure resolution being led by Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz.
