{"id":8660,"date":"2025-12-27T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T15:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/27\/epstein-texts-and-yelling-at-trump-us-houses-year-of-censures-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T15:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T15:00:47","slug":"epstein-texts-and-yelling-at-trump-us-houses-year-of-censures-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/27\/epstein-texts-and-yelling-at-trump-us-houses-year-of-censures-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Epstein texts and yelling at Trump: US House\u2019s year of censures – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s been a year for the history books in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers broke the record for longest floor speech<\/a> and longest vote<\/a>, and presided over the lengthiest government shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They also spent plenty of time seeking to reprimand each other by passing censures, as the House\u2019s formal mechanism for discipline is known. A search on Congress.gov reveals at least 17 attempts since the start of the year to condemn another lawmaker, in the form of a censure or a less formal disapproval resolution.<\/p>\n

If a censure resolution is approved by a majority of the chamber, the targeted lawmaker must stand before the House dais as the speaker informs them that they have been punished for their bad behavior. That\u2019s as far as the consequences go \u2013 they keep their seat and their right to vote, but perhaps not their reputation.<\/p>\n

Though almost none of these passed, the flurry grew so intense that by the end of the year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed changing the rules to make it more difficult for censures to succeed. \u201cHow about we stop the circular firing squad in the House?\u201d asked Republican Don Bacon, one of the bill\u2019s sponsors.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look back at the alleged misdeeds at the center of the censure spree:<\/p>\n

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Calling Musk a \u2018dick\u2019<\/h2>\n

Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace introduced the first censure attempt of the year in February against Democrat Robert Garcia. Mace\u2019s measure accuses Garcia of \u201cinciting violence against a special government employee\u201d \u2013 meaning Elon Musk, who was then in Trump\u2019s best graces as the leader of the \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d. The measure cites an instance in which Garcia \u2013 in a rather roundabout fashion<\/a> \u2013 called Musk a \u201cdick\u201d at a committee hearing, and a comment he made to CNN about how his fellow Democrats should \u201cbring actual weapons to this bar fight\u201d against Musk. The House did not end up voting on it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Yelling at the president<\/h2>\n

The newly re-elected Donald Trump appeared to be at the height of his powers when he addressed<\/a> a joint session of Congress in early March. But Democrat Al Green was not having it. Pumping a walking cane in the air, Green interrupted Trump<\/a>, shouting \u201che has no mandate\u201d. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, had Green forcibly removed, and three Republicans introduced censure resolutions targeting him. Two days after the speech, the House passed Washington congressman Dan Newhouse\u2019s measure, with 10 Democrats voting in favor<\/a>, along with all Republicans. Democratic lawmakers surrounded Green and sang We Shall Overcome as Johnson read the censure.<\/p>\n

(In response to that scene, Republican congressman Eli Crane proposed, unsuccessfully, another resolution that would have thrown Green off the financial services committee). Newhouse\u2019s resolution remains the only censure to actually win approval in 2025, but the wave of acrimony was far from finished.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wallowing in racial stereotypes <\/h2>\n

Four days after Green was censured, Democratic congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan proposed censuring Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who said the following about Green in an interview with a rightwing broadcaster: \u201cFor him to go and shake his pimp cane at President Trump was absolutely abhorrent.\u201d The resolution accused Boebert of using language that is \u201cdisparaging, derogatory, and racist toward another colleague\u201d, but was not considered on the House floor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Making light of the Texas governor\u2019s wheelchair<\/h2>\n

In March, Republican congressman Randy Weber of Texas proposed censuring Democratic fellow Texan Jasmine Crockett for calling Greg Abbott \u2013 the state\u2019s Republican governor who has used a wheelchair for decades after being paralyzed by a falling tree \u2013 \u201cGovernor Hot Wheels\u201d and \u201ca hot ass mess\u201d. This also did not come up for a vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Confronting ICE<\/h2>\n

Republicans filed two censure resolutions against New Jersey Democrat LaMonica McIver after she was arrested and charged<\/a> with felonies following an altercation outside an ICE detention facility in Newark. The resolution introduced by Republican Clay Higgins was brought up in the House, only for Democrats and a handful of Republicans to collaborate in killing it. This would be the first of several instances this year in which small groups of lawmakers crossed party lines to put down a censure attempt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More racism<\/h2>\n

Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles was the target of two censure resolutions over the summer, for discriminatory comments made about the incoming New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani and other Democrats of color. Democrat Shri Thanedar proposed Ogles\u2019s censure in June for social media posts in which he dubbed Mamdani \u201clittle muhammad\u201d and called for him to be deported. The following month, Democrat Ritchie Torres introduced a censure resolution after Ogles called Hakeem Jeffries, the African American House minority leader, \u201cDiscount Dollar Store Obama\u201d. Neither resolution was put up for a vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Questioning the deeds of Charlie Kirk<\/h2>\n

One of only two Muslim women in Congress and the only Somali American, Democrat Ilhan Omar is a perpetual target<\/a> of Trump and his Republican allies. In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder, Mace proposed censuring Omar and booting her off two committees for comments in which she \u201cdisparaged\u201d his character as well as those who mourned the conservative activist\u2019s death, according to her resolution. Democrats succeeded in killing it thanks to help from, again, a small group of Republicans. Jeff Hurd, one of four GOP lawmakers to vote the motion down, called Omar\u2019s comments \u201cghoulish and evil\u201d but said<\/a>: \u201cThe right response to reprehensible speech like this isn\u2019t silencing: it\u2019s more speech. That\u2019s what Charlie Kirk believed and practiced, and I agree.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2018Undermining the process of a free and fair election\u2019<\/h2>\n

The censure wave peaked in November, when, in the midst of a pivotal vote<\/a> to end the government shutdown, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez went to the House floor and alleged that fellow Democrat Chuy Garcia orchestrated his retirement in such a way to guarantee that his chief of staff would be elected to replace him. The resolution \u201cdisapproves of [his] behavior\u201d for \u201cundermining the process of a free and fair election\u201d, but was not technically a censure. It sparked outrage from some in Perez\u2019s party but ended up passing, with most Republicans and 23 Democrats voting in support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Texting Jeffrey Epstein<\/h2>\n

As the bill to compel the release of government-held files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was nearing passage, the Washington Post reported<\/a> that Democrat Stacey Plaskett, the non-voting delegate from the US Virgin Islands, had texted with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing. The GOP saw a moment to make Democrats \u2013 who had for months pressed for release of the Epstein files \u2013 practice what they preached, and Congressman Ralph Norman proposed censuring Plaskett<\/a>. His resolution failed thanks to united Democratic opposition and the votes of three Republicans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A wide range of alleged misdeeds<\/h2>\n

Florida Republican Cory Mills was the target of three separate censure resolutions this year that wound up sparking allegations of party leaders scheming to kill competing censure attempts. In response to the attempt to censure McIver, Democrat Yvette Clarke introduced the first resolution in September, which said that Mills had on \u201cseveral occasions conducted himself in a manner that reflects discredit\u201d on the House, citing reports the congressman abused romantic partners, committed financial misconduct and misrepresented his military service. The congressman denied wrongdoing, and Clarke\u2019s resolution wound up being withdrawn at the same time that a few Republicans joined with Democrats to block the censure of Omar.<\/p>\n

Clarke filed a substantially similar measure on the same day as the Epstein files vote in November, and the following day, Mace introduced her own censure resolution against Mills. The Florida congressman made a motion to refer Mace\u2019s proposal to the ethics committee rather than bring it up for a vote, which succeeded with the support of many Democrats. That prompted some Republican women to allege that House leaders brokered a deal to protect Mills in exchange for voting down the censure of Plaskett.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis backroom deal shit is swampy, wrong and always deserves to be called out,\u201d Florida Republican Kat Cammack later said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a year for the history books in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers broke the record for longest floor speech and longest vote, and presided over the lengthiest government shutdown. They also spent plenty of time seeking to reprimand each other by passing censures, as the House\u2019s formal mechanism for discipline is known. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}