House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) went after Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), accusing him of being a “complete and total fraud” over his vow to remove Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) and others from committee assignments.
Ogles said Thursday that he is looking to strip some of his Democratic colleagues from their posts after they sang a song in support of Green on the House floor. The Texas Democrat was censured over his protest of President Trump’s Tuesday night speech to Congress.
Jeffries said Ogles’ resolution is “going nowhere.”
“I’m here in the office. Just finished up a telephone town hall meeting with my dynamic sister, our Attorney General Tish James. And my team informs me that some far-right extremists have introduced a resolution to try to throw Democratic Members of the House off of our committees,” Jeffries said in a statement Thursday night.
“That resolution is going nowhere,” he continued. “You ain’t throwing no one off of any single committee. These people are malignant clowns.”
“You aren’t throwing anyone off of any committee in the House of Representatives,” the Democratic leader added. “Don’t make me expose you to folks who don’t know you.”
Green’s outburst during Trump’s address came after the president boasted of his 2024 presidential election win, calling it a “mandate” from the American voters. The Texas lawmaker fired back during the speech, standing up and yelling that Trump didn’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) warned members to maintain decorum and eventually requested the sergeant-at-arms to escort Green out of the chamber.
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) introduced a resolution to censure Green a day later. The measure was adopted with a 224-198-2 vote — including 10 Democrats who voted in favor of it.
On Thursday, as Green stood in the House chamber, some of his fellow Democrats surrounded him when he started singing “We Shall Overcome.” Johnson once again called for the members to maintain decorum.
Ogles, shortly after, said he is “drafting privileged resolutions to remove each of them from their committees.”
“If you want to act like a child in the Halls of Congress, you will be treated like a child,” Ogles said.
Other Republicans are looking to do the same. House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said the conservative caucus is filing a measure to remove “disruptive and disrespectful” Green from his committee assignments.
“We expect @SpeakerJohnson to bring it to the House floor for a vote next week,” Harris stated.
The Hill has reached out to Ogles’ office for comment.
