House votes to censure Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump’s speech to Congress

The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday. 

The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in approving the censure resolution. Green and freshman Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., voted present. As the vote proceeded, Green sat by himself along the center aisle.

After the vote, as the resolution required of him, Green stood in the well of the House chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution to him. 

Dozens of Democrats, including many fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus, surrounded Green in the well and sang “We Shall Overcome” in a show of solidarity as the speaker repeatedly told them to stop and clear the well.

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to censure  Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s address to Congress. The Republican-controlled body voted 224-198, including 10 Democrats in favor of approving the resolution.

Republicans in the chamber yelled, “Order! Order!” And two CBC members, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, shot back: “Shame on you!”

Democrats ignored the speaker’s request, and Johnson then recessed the House.

The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are all moderates: Reps. Ami Bera and Jim Costa, both of California; Ed Case of Hawaii; Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, both of New York; Jim Himes of Connecticut; Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania; Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Jared Moskowitz of Florida; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.

Green, 77, a former local president of the NAACP, is a fixture in the House, where he has served for 20 years. Starting in Trump’s first term, the outspoken progressive has repeatedly introduced resolutions to impeach Trump, and has threatened to do so again this year.

The censure against Green was introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse R-Wash. A Democratic effort to table the censure resolution was rejected Wednesday in a 209-211 vote.

Here’s what it means to be censured in Congress.

A censure is a formal way for the House to express disapproval of a member’s conduct. A censured member does not lose any rights or privileges as a House member.

The matter, however, might not be closed. The far-right House Freedom Caucus, who had been racing to introduce their own resolution to censure Green, said after the vote its members plan to roll out another resolution seeking to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee. The group said on X it expects Johnson to bring the resolution to the floor next week.

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