{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2025-03-06-pt1-PgH1029", "2025-03-06", 119, 1, null, null, "INCIVILITY IN CHAMBER", "HOUSE", "HOUSE", "ALLOTHER", "H1029", "H1031", "[{\"name\": \"Al Green\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HCONRES\", \"number\": \"11\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HRES\", \"number\": \"189\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"HRES\", \"number\": \"189\"}]", "171 Cong. Rec. H1029", "Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 43 (Thursday, March 6, 2025)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 43 (Thursday, March 6, 2025)]\n[House]\n[Pages H1029-H1031]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                         INCIVILITY IN CHAMBER\n\n  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Green\nof Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority\nleader.)\n  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise.\n  And still I rise, a proud, liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed,\nand unafraid.\n  I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call to the attention of the House,\nthis place that I revere and, notwithstanding recent events, that I\nhave great respect for.\n  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in response to a censure, a censure that\ntook place as it relates to my behavior. I have been told by some that\nthey did not have an opportunity to hear the actual resolution as it\nwas read. I have here H. Res. 189, the censure resolution as it relates\nto my behavior.\n  I believe this resolution should be read. I am not in any way upset\nwith the Speaker. I want people to know that the Speaker did what he\nwas supposed to do. He did what he was supposed to do when we had the\njoint session of Congress.\n  When I interrupted, the Speaker called it to my attention. He did it\non multiple occasions. I have no reason in my heart to be upset with\nthe Speaker.\n\n  Later, persons came over and escorted me out. I appreciate them. They\nwere very kind to me, the officers, very kind. They said kind words to\nme.\n  As a result of my behavior, I have been censured.\n  I am going to read the resolution and give some commentary. It reads,\n``H. Res. 189. In the House of Representatives, Mr. Newhouse submitted\nthe following resolution, which was referred to the Committee on''--and\nthe copy that I have does not have a committee. I am not sure it was\nreferred to a committee. It may have come straight to the floor.\nRegardless as to how it arrived, it did, and I am not contesting the\nprocedure.\n  The resolution reads: ``Censuring Representative Al Green of Texas.\n  ``Whereas, on March 4, 2025, during the joint session of Congress\nconvened pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 11, the President of\nthe United States, speaking at the invitation of the House and Senate,\nhad his remarks interrupted by the Representative from Texas, Mr.\nGreen;\n  ``Whereas, the conduct of the Representative from Texas disrupted the\nproceedings of the joint address and was a breach of proper conduct;\nand\n  ``Whereas, after numerous disruptions, the Representative from Texas\nhad to be removed from the chamber by the Sergeant at Arms:\n  ``Now, therefore, be it resolved, that--\n  ``One, Representative Al Green be censured;\n  ``Two, Representative Al Green forthwith present himself in the well\nof the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure; and\n  ``Three, Representative Al Green be censured with the public reading\nof this resolution by the Speaker.''\n  That concludes the resolution.\n  Some things bear repeating: I respect the Speaker. I have no ill\nfeelings toward the Speaker, none toward the persons who escorted me\naway from the floor because I did disrupt. I did so because the\nPresident indicated that he had a mandate--and I wanted him to know\nthat he didn't have a mandate--to cut Medicaid.\n  I did this because Medicaid is the only insurance many people have in\nthis country. I am blessed. As I stand here now, there is a physician\nwaiting. If something should happen, I will be taken to that physician.\nI have the best healthcare in the world.\n  There are other people who have less than I. I would have them have\nwhat I have, but I surely would not stand by and see them lose what\nlittle they do have.\n  Medicaid is for people who don't have the kind of healthcare that 435\nMembers of Congress and 100 Members of the Senate have, but they do\nhave some healthcare.\n  It has been approved by legislation that the Energy and Commerce\nCommittee would cut $880 billion from their budget. The overwhelming\nmajority of that budget has to do with healthcare. I see no way for\nthis cut to take place without cutting into Medicaid.\n  I am going to fight the cutting of Medicaid. I hope that this\ncomment, this message that I am giving today, will deter them and cause\nthem to go a different way. Then, they can say: ``We were never going\nto do it. Al Green just had this false notion.'' Well, let me have it.\nDon't cut Medicaid. It is all they have.\n  This is the richest country in the world. Mr. Musk has doctors. He\nwill get the best healthcare. Let him understand that he should be on\nmy side. He should be on the side of the people who need this\nhealthcare. He has the ear of the President.\n  Mr. Musk, speak to him. He listens to you. But for the grace of God,\ndear brother, you could be on Medicaid. You just have been blessed.\nDon't assume that it was your intellect that has caused you all of\nthese great blessings that you have received. You have just been\nblessed beyond measure. Speak to the President and tell him that\nMedicaid ought not be cut.\n  But I continue. I interrupted.\n  I was set to be in need of sanctions. I came to the floor today, and\nwhile the Speaker was reading, I recalled what happened in the sixties.\nI recalled that when we were faced with adverse circumstances, we would\nsing a song that would inspire and encourage us to move forward with\nalacrity.\n\n                              {time}  1230\n\n  The words were:\n\n       We shall overcome,\n       We shall overcome,\n       We shall overcome some day.\n\n[[Page H1030]]\n\n       Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some\n     day.\n\n  That was an act of incivility.\n  Why, Al Green, would you come to the well before your colleagues and\nthe world and commit an act of incivility?\n  Here is why: It is because when the President of the United States\nright there at that podium addressed the Members of Congress, Democrats\nseated on this side, seated, many of them saying nothing, the President\nof the United States looked upon them, pointed toward them and said:\nLunatics. The President of the United States at a joint session of\nCongress called Members of Congress lunatics.\n  That was an act of incivility.\n  There comes a time, Mr. Speaker, when you cannot allow the\nPresident's incivility to take advantage of our civility, and that is\nwhat is happening in this country. His incivility is overwhelming our\ncivility. We cannot allow this. That act of incivility was in direct\nresponse to the President's incivility.\n  Mr. President, you, sir, were wrong when you pointed to the Members\nof Congress and called them lunatics, Democrats, I might add, you\ncalled them lunatics.\n  The President hasn't been sanctioned. The President hasn't been\nreprimanded. There has been no censure of the President. The President\nis above the law. The Supreme Court has said as much. He can do things\nthat no other can do. He is above the law as it relates to certain\nthings, but not as it relates to all things, not all. He is still\nsubject to the norms of society, the decorum that you expect from me,\nyou have to respect and expect from the President.\n  Why would we allow him to use his incivility and expect me to\ncontinue to engage in civility as it relates to his incivility?\n  Mr. President, there are some of us who are going to stand against\nyour incivility. We have reached a point in our history where we have\nto hearken back to that which got us to this point in our history.\n  I remember the sixties. I remember Dr. King. I remember the movement.\nI remember what it took to get me in this House. I am not here because\nI am so smart. I am not here because of brilliancy or good looks. I am\nhere because people made great sacrifices. It was incivility, and it\nwas disruption, but they were prepared to suffer the consequences.\n  We are going to have to resort to the same tactics that we used in\nthe sixties, but we did it for a worthy and noble cause. Calling the\npeople of Congress lunatics was not noble, Mr. President. It was an\nignoble act of incivility.\n  I remember how we marched and how we protested, and I am prepared to\ndo it again. If you treat me like you treated me in the sixties, I am\ngoing to respond the way I responded in the sixties.\n  It is time for us to use the same level of incivility that was used\nin the sixties for a noble cause: to save Medicaid, to protect\nMedicare, and to prevent the demise of Social Security. It is time for\nus to take that stand. Incivility emanating from the highest office in\nthe land cannot be tolerated and has to be negated.\n  I did it, and I have said to people that while I respect others and\nwhile I absolutely was cooperative when they led me away from the\nfloor, but if circumstances permitted, given what I know, and I have to\nbe candid, I would do it again. I would do it because I care about\nthese people on Medicaid.\n  For edification purposes, the State of Texas was accorded $100\nbillion--100 billion Medicaid dollars--100 billion Medicaid dollars\nwere sent to the State of Texas to help poor people.\n  What did the State of Texas do?\n  The State of Texas rejected $100 billion for poor people on Medicaid,\n100 billion, not million, 100 billion. The State of Texas does not have\nthe goodwill necessary to manage Medicaid dollars. If we block grant\nthis money and send it to Texas, then those who are in need of it will\nget less of it. We have to stand up for them. They are among the least\nin our society. Unfortunately, we have to stand up for them.\n  I am standing up for those people. I will continue to stand, and I\nwill continue to tell the world that this incivility has to be dealt\nwith. We have to deal with the President's incivility.\n  The name-calling never ceases. Maxine Waters he has assaulted\nverbally and Ms. Wilson of Florida. The list goes on and on and on. As\nCongresswoman Waters is known to say: on and on and on.\n  We sit and we watch with civility as he employs incivility. Yes, I\nhave said earlier, and I am retreating to the point, that he has been\ngiven a certain amount of immunity. He has not been given absolute\nimmunity, but he seems to have an inordinate amount of influence with\nhis party. It is inordinate. I see people doing things that I never\nthought I would see them do. I have seen people who are conservative\nand that I have great respect for doing things that I never thought I\nwould see them do.\n  I am not calling names. I am just saying to my friends that the\nPresident has an inordinate amount of influence. He has an inordinate,\nunusual, and incomprehensible amount of influence.\n  The courts have given him a certain amount of immunity. His party has\ngiven him carte blanche to say anything and to come before the joint\nsession of Congress and use the word ``lunatics'' as he refers to\nDemocrats. The only thing left in ordinary times would be the courts.\n  The court orders ought to be obeyed. I don't always like them, but I\nremember what John Lewis explained to me about peaceful protests:\nProtest, the court orders you to do certain things, you don't have to\nagree with it, but you do it. You be willing to suffer\nthe consequences.\n\n  The courts are right now in the midst of, as best as they can, trying\nto give us the laws necessary to prevent certain things from happening.\nMass layoffs have to be taken to court. There have been mass layoffs\nwith no due process and no thought of what is happening in the lives of\nthese people. You just take a pen and with the stroke of a pen they are\noff. There is no concern about children in school, there is no concern\nabout loved ones who may be ill, whom they are taking care of, being\nthe chief breadwinner for the family. There is no concern.\n  You have got billions, Mr. Musk.\n  Why should you care about the concerns of people who have much less\nand who are working every day to eke out a living?\n  You have billions. You shouldn't worry about them. Worry about making\nmore money. Go to the Moon.\n  They don't have that luxury. I am going to stand for them and mass\nlayoffs without any consideration.\n  I just believe that this level of behavior if it were conducted,\ncommitted, and engaged in by one Barack Hussein Obama when he was\nPresident, if he behaved in this fashion, then he would have been\nimpeached. He would have been impeached. I will go to my grave with\nthis belief. We wouldn't allow these mass layoffs. We wouldn't allow\nthese cuts to veterans, and we wouldn't allow Medicaid, Medicare, and\nSocial Security to be on the chopping block.\n  He would have been impeached.\n  To be very honest, I would have voted for the impeachment because I\ndon't think that we should allow a President to circumvent what we know\nto be the requirements associated with the legislative process and with\ndue process which should be accorded people who are being fired as it\nwere.\n  When you do these things, the courts are acting, and the courts\nshould act. However, there is a point, Mr. President, if your\nincivility allows you to disobey court orders given that your party has\ngiven you carte blanche and given that you believe you have absolute\nimmunity by virtue of what the Supreme Court has accorded you--and you\ndon't have absolute but I think you believe it--when you cross that\nline, when you cross that line and you, Mr. President, decide you will\nno longer honor orders from the judiciary, when you decide that Marbury\nv. Madison means nothing, when you decide that you are the supreme law\nof the land, then on that day we will have a dictatorship.\n  We are close because you are continually inching right up to the\nline, you are looking over to the other side, and at some point,\nregrettably, you may cross over.\n  Mr. President, I beg that you not do so. I beg that you would not do\nso and that you would honor the third branch of government designed to\nsettle disputes among us, not always in a favorable way to some,\nobviously, but that is what it is there for.\n\n[[Page H1031]]\n\n  I beg you, Mr. President, that you would not dishonor the judiciary\nin this country.\n  Here is what I know: I know that you have the ability to say to a\njudge: You have issued your court order, now let me see you enforce it.\nThat is my Justice Department--not Al Green's, the President's--that is\nmy Justice Department. The head of my Justice Department has pledged\nfealty to me--not Al Green, the President--that is my Justice\nDepartment. Let me see you get my Justice Department to enforce your\norder, Mr. Judge.\n  More specifically, Mr. John Roberts, get my Justice Department to\nenforce your order. Let me see you get my marshals to enforce your\norder.\n  This President, whether wittingly or unwittingly, has put himself in\na position such that the Justice Department has pledged fealty to him.\n  Generals in the military: You don't get these positions now unless\nyou have pledged fealty to him.\n  We ought to be ashamed of ourselves to allow such a thing to have\nhappened. Yes, generals in the military, the Justice Department, the\ncourts, many of them are bending knees and genuflecting.\n\n                              {time}  1245\n\n  Somehow, you believe that you are showing respect, I suppose, or\nmaybe you are just currying favor.\n  Be that as it may, the Justice Department, generals in the military,\nand many of the courts are giving a genuflect. Wittingly or\nunwittingly, he is setting himself up such that he is in a position and\nsuch that, at the end of his fourth year, he might attempt to do what\nhe tried to do and failed to do at the end of his last term.\n  He tried his best to prevent the transition of power. He did all that\nhe could. He encouraged persons to come over to the Capitol. People\ncame, and they literally broke into the Capitol. I was here. They came,\nand they marched through the Capitol.\n  Mr. Speaker, for doing it, the President has been given them the\nultimate reward. You, you, and you--yes, you, too--all of you, you are\npardoned. You are given some sort of amnesty. You are okay.\n  This is what the President has done. Wittingly or unwittingly, he is\nnow in a position to make that same effort. Only this time, the Justice\nDepartment is with him, not with the Constitution. Generals in the\nmilitary are with him, not with their oath that they have taken.\n  The President, wittingly or unwittingly, has put himself in a\nposition such that if he chooses to stay on beyond his term of office\nand if he chooses to do what a Member of Congress has suggested that\nmight be done by law, which is to give him a third term--I hold no\nanimus toward the Member of Congress who has filed the legislation; I\nhave no animus to you, dear brother--but what we have done is witnessed\na President who, wittingly or unwittingly, has put himself in a\nposition such that he will have the power to enforce the inanity of not\nallowing a peaceful transfer of power.\n  He literally is putting himself in that position. Wittingly or\nunwittingly, he is.\n  As a result of his doing this, we have to not allow his incivility\nand his requirement of fealty to prevent us from taking the necessary\nactions to protect liberty and justice for all and to protect\ngovernment of the people, by the people, and for the people. To protect\nwhat this country has in its great and noble ideals, we have to do what\nis necessary.\n  I believe that we have to engage in a level of positive, righteous\nincivility--positive, righteous incivility, the same kind of incivility\nthat Dr. King engaged in and that John Lewis engaged in. This\nincivility would only be a counterbalance to the President's\nincivility.\n  I am not saying that we get into the name-calling and stoop to the\nlevel that he does. I am saying that, when there are moments for us to\nhave righteous incivility, we should.\n  Now, I am back to where I started. I stood there in the well of the\nHouse, other Members with me. I never suggested to anybody that you do\na certain thing. We did sing ``We Shall Overcome.''\n  It was an act of incivility, but I want people to know that it was in\ndirect response to the President's incivility at the joint session of\nCongress. He has not been reprimanded. He has not been censured. He\nwon't be reprimanded. He won't be censured.\n  However, there is one, as the President uses it, in his parlance, one\ncard. There is one card that we have. You told the President of\nUkraine: ``You don't have the cards.'' Well, Mr. President, we have the\ncards.\n  There are 435 of us with the cards. The card, Mr. President, you know\nwell because, on two occasions, these cards have been utilized to check\nyou. You don't always get convicted when you are indicted, but you do\nget indicted.\n  If you continue with this line of behavior, you may not just simply\nbe indicted. That means impeached. You may be more than impeached.\nThere may be a Senate that has the will to live up to the ideals in the\nConstitution. When that Senate does so, you will no longer be\nPresident.\n  There are 435 cards. Mr. President, I have one of those cards. I have\none of them. You are a Goliath. You are Goliath. You now have control\nof the Justice Department. You have the generals pledging fealty. You\nare a Goliath, Mr. President, but there are 435 Davids--435 Davids--435\nwith the power accorded to us by way of the rules of this House to\nbring Articles of Impeachment.\n  You may not be impeached the first time, but there is always a\nsecond, and there is always a third.\n  In the end, if you, Mr. President, continue with this behavior, you\nwill be impeached, and I believe there will be the will in the Senate\nto convict.\n  I am not threatening anyone. I am talking about the rules that have\nbeen accorded to this House, which I happen to be a Member of and proud\nto be a Member of, and accorded to the Senate.\n  You are a Goliath, but, Mr. President, there are Davids among us.\nYour incivility can no longer be tolerated. It has to be met with\nrighteous indignation and righteous incivility.\n  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.\n  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McDowell). Members are reminded to\nrefrain from engaging in personalities toward the President and to\ndirect their remarks to the Chair.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2025-03-06-pt1-PgH1029"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3640440301969647, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}