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unidentified
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| Good morning, everyone. | ||
| We'll begin with that censure vote. | ||
| Now, a censure is a public rebuke of a lawmaker. | ||
| They are forced to go to the well of the chamber and stand and listen to the criticism, the public rebuke of them by the House. | ||
| Listen to that moment on the House floor yesterday. | ||
| By its adoption of House Resolution 189, the House has resolved that Representative Al Green be censured, that Representative Al Green forthwith present himself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure, And that Representative Al Green be censured with public reading of this resolution by the Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
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The House had come to order. | |
| The House had come to order. | ||
| What's that? | ||
| I'd love to keep doing this. | ||
| The House had come to order. | ||
| Clear the well, please. | ||
| Clear the well. | ||
| The House has to continue its business. | ||
| The Speaker trying to get order in the House as some Democrats gathered around Representative Al Green as he was in the well to receive that public rebuke started singing, We Shall Overcome. | ||
| This morning, we're getting your reaction to the House vote yesterday to censor the Congressman. | ||
| We're dividing the lines by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. | ||
| We want to know what you think of what happened. | ||
| Now, 10 Democrats voted with all the Republicans to censor the Congressman. | ||
| Here are the names of those lawmakers and the faces. | ||
| Congressman Berra of California, Representative Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Lauren Gillen of New York, Marie Glusenkamp-Perez of Washington State, Jim Himes, who serves in Connecticut, and from Pennsylvania, Chrissy Houlihan, Marcy Kaptor of Ohio, the longest-serving member of Congress in the House, and Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Tom Swazi of New York. | ||
| Those were the 10 Democrats who joined all the Republicans to vote for Center. | ||
| Now, we'll tell you their explanation from those 10 Democrats is why they agreed with Republicans that the congressman deserved a public rebuke for his actions at the joint address. | ||
| He stood up and he shouted that you don't have a mandate. | ||
| He shook his cane at the president and he was escorted out of the chamber, you'll recall, at the top of that joint address. | ||
| Danny and Arizona Republican, we'll begin with you. | ||
| Danny, what do you make of this action by the House of Representatives yesterday? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Greta. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Yeah, you know something? | ||
| Yes, that's long overdue. | ||
| This guy is nothing but a troublemaker. | ||
| He should be censored. | ||
| And what the Democrats did Tuesday night is disgraceful. | ||
| They couldn't stand for a child with brain cancer and the rest of the poor people that have died raped or whatever due to the hands of illegal aliens. | ||
| And the Democrats should sat on their hands. | ||
| Greta, this is disgraceful. | ||
| All right, Danny's thoughts there. | ||
| In Arizona, Republican, Betty's a Democrat in Atlanta. | ||
| Betty, good morning to you. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| I don't think he should have been censored because the Republican have did way more worse things than he did. | ||
| So the goose cannot talk about the gambler, okay? | ||
| If they want to get things straight, speak straight. | ||
| Give me some examples of what Republicans have done that's far worse, you think. | ||
|
unidentified
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Okay, that green lady, she says what she wants to say. | |
| Okay, the president, he get on there and call people's names. | ||
| And I think they're just as bad as him putting the king and calling him a name. | ||
| He's nothing but a man like everybody else. | ||
| He's not God. | ||
| So, Betty, let me ask you this. | ||
| What is the best form of protest for the Democratic Party during this second Trump administration? | ||
| What do you think is appropriate and effective? | ||
|
unidentified
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Okay, you can't be mean with me. | |
| You understand what I'm saying? | ||
| Because you know God loves us all. | ||
| But what I'm saying, everybody wants to get down on the Democrats, but they don't say nothing about the Republicans. | ||
| Okay, when he pardoned all those people that got up there and got police killed and everything, what did they do about that? | ||
| Nothing did this. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Betty there in Atlanta disagreeing with the censure of Representative Al Greene. | ||
| She points to Marjorie Taylor Green's behavior back a year ago when then President Biden gave his last State of the Union address to a joint Congress, referencing Marjorie Taylor Greene shouting at the president during his speech about Lake and Riley and other issues. | ||
| Now, Representative Al Green spoke on the House floor about the public rebuke. | ||
| Here's what he had to say. | ||
| I respect the Speaker. | ||
| I have no ill feelings toward the Speaker. | ||
| None toward the persons that escorted me away from the floor because I did disrupt. | ||
| And I did so because the president indicated that he had a mandate. | ||
| And I wanted him to know that he didn't have a mandate to cut Medicaid. | ||
| I did this because Medicaid is the only insurance many people have in this country. | ||
| I am blessed as I stand here now. | ||
| There's a physician waiting. | ||
| If something should happen, I would be taken to that physician. | ||
| I have the best health care in the world. | ||
| There are other people who have less than I. | ||
| I would have them have what I have. | ||
| But I surely will not stand by and see them lose what little they do have. | ||
| Medicaid is for people who don't have the kind of health care that 435 members of Congress and 100 members of the Senate have. | ||
| But they do have some health care. | ||
| It has been approved by legislation that the Energy and Commerce Committee would cut $880 billion from their budget. | ||
| The overwhelming majority of that budget has to do with health care. | ||
| I see no way for this cut to take place without cutting into Medicaid. | ||
| I am going to fight the cutting of Medicaid. | ||
| I hope that this comment, this message that I'm giving today will deter them and cause them to go a different way. | ||
| Then they can say, we were never going to do it. | ||
| Al Green just had this false notion. | ||
| Well, let me have it. | ||
| Don't cut Medicaid. | ||
| Representative Al Green on the floor, Democrat there after he was censored by the House. | ||
| All the Republicans and 10 Democrats joined to say that what he did at the joint address was wrong and that he deserved that censure. | ||
| Now, Speaker Mike Johnson put this out on X. Representative Al Green's shameful and egregious behavior during President Trump's joint address disgraced the Institute of Congress and the constituents he serves. | ||
| Despite my repeated warnings, he refused to cease his antics and I was forced to remove him from the chamber. | ||
| He deliberately violated House rules and an expeditious vote of censor is an appropriate remedy. | ||
| Any Democrat who is concerned about regaining the trust and respect of the American people should join House Republicans in this effort. | ||
| We're getting your reaction this morning to what the House did yesterday to the congressman in response to his behavior during the joint address. | ||
| Now, you heard the congressman from Texas talking about why he did it, because he believes that the Republicans and the Department of Government Efficiency has their sights set on Medicaid cuts. | ||
| Here is the economy and business section of the Washington Post. | ||
| The GOP budget goals would require Medicaid cuts. | ||
| This according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan group that advises Congress on their policy. | ||
| Republicans in Congress cannot reach their goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years for President Donald Trump's big beautiful bill on taxes and immigration unless they cut Medicaid or Medicare benefits. | ||
| Trump and the GOP are seeking to extend provisions of the President's 2017 tax cut law, which would nearly, which would cost nearly $5 trillion, while also pushing hundreds of billions of dollars to new spending on border security, mass deportation campaigns, and national defense investments. | ||
| To do all that, without sending the national debt soaring, Republicans are looking for spending cuts to pay for the new spending and lower tax rates. | ||
| But Trump has said that the GOP shouldn't cut benefits for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. | ||
| Those are the three largest social safety net programs, which together accounted for roughly $3.2 trillion of the country's $6.75 trillion of total spending in the 2024 fiscal year. | ||
| More than 60 million Americans rely on each program for medical coverage, retirement security, survivor benefits, and unemployment caused by disability. | ||
| But the CBO is saying you can't reach the spending cuts that you want to achieve without getting to Medicare and Medicaid. | ||
| Joe in Dayton, Ohio, Republican. | ||
| We're talking about Representative Al Green and his protest at the joint address. | ||
| What do you think? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning from a beautiful sunny day in Ohio. | |
| Al Green is a deranged lunatic. | ||
| He was on your show. | ||
| About two weeks ago, holding up the sign that said impeach Trump. | ||
| Yep. | ||
|
unidentified
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Impeached Trump. | |
| Impeached Trump for what? | ||
| A man who's been in office for six weeks. | ||
| Please tell me what you're going to impeach him on. | ||
| And also, Al Green tried not to certify Trump's election in 2016, along with other Democrat individuals, Adam Schippt, Hank Johnson, Nancy Pelosi, all these people did. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Greta, it's sad, but the Democrats really exposed themselves this week. | |
| Shameful how a man standing not more than about 15 feet away from the president is shaking a cane in his face, not allowing him to speak, not allowing him his First Amendment rights. | ||
|
unidentified
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And it's shameful. | |
| And then hold on, Greta. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| And also, what really showed me yesterday was 10 Democrats voted against this guy. | ||
| And they might have their own reasons and stuff like this, but and I was floored by Harold Ford coming out right after Trump's speech saying that the Democrat Party is lost. | ||
| They have nothing for the American people. | ||
| Go ahead, Greta. | ||
| I apologize. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| No, no, you're all good. | ||
| I wanted you to finish your thoughts. | ||
| So a couple things. | ||
| A couple things. | ||
| So Representative Al Green, he was on the program. | ||
| He talked about moving to articles of impeachment. | ||
| He said it would be a grassroots effort. | ||
| So he did talk about that. | ||
| And for our viewers, if you missed that, you can find it on our website. | ||
| We'll try to show you that moment as well when he was on the Washington Journal. | ||
| Joe, respond, though, to our previous caller who pointed to Marjorie Taylor Green's behavior during President Biden's last State of the Union address. | ||
| She stood up and shouted at the president when he was trying to finish his remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Correct. | |
| But what Marjorie Taylor Greene was, she was saying, say her name of a young, beautiful young lady down in Georgia that was bludgeoned and raped by an illegal alien that Joe Biden led into this country. | ||
| So Joe's point. | ||
|
unidentified
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I don't remember Marjorie Taylor Greene standing with a weapon or a cane, shaking it at Joe Biden. | |
| But if you want to say that, that's fine. | ||
| Then I guess they should have censored Marjorie Taylor Green. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| But Greta, another thing I want to tell you, just real quick, and I know you've got other callers here, but there's only two things that the Democrats have. | ||
| They talk about Medicaid or Medicare and Social Security. | ||
| They've been talking about that since Ronald Reagan. | ||
| You're too young to even know Ronald Reagan. | ||
| But anyhow, they've been talking about that since Reagan. | ||
| And the other thing they have is January 6th. | ||
| That's all they have. | ||
| And they better find something else. | ||
| All right, Joe, let me just ask you one last question because what viewers may be hearing from you is that it's okay to disrupt a joint address by a president as long as what you're saying, you agree with. | ||
| So you agree with Marjorie Taylor Green's what she was saying when she was disrupting the president. | ||
| So as long as that happens, you're okay with it. | ||
| But when Al Green stands up and says, you don't have a mandate responding to President Trump saying he does, then you're not okay with it. | ||
| What I am okay with is that Donald, what I am okay with, just to get the facts straight, is that Donald Trump was not with, Donald Trump didn't even say two sentences, and Al Green was standing there in the front row, or not the front row, but right behind the justices, shaking his cane at Donald Trump, not allowing him to speak, and he was told to sit down numerous times, numerous times, and he refused to do so. | ||
|
unidentified
|
With Marjorie Taylor Greene, she said, say her name, say her name. | |
| And finally, Joe Biden was bullied enough that he had to say Lake and Riley's name, and he didn't even pronounce his name right. | ||
| Yes, ma'am, I'm okay with Marjorie Taylor Greene. | ||
| But of course, you're going to have your Democrat college going, oh, you know, Joe is an idiot, or he's one-sided, whatever. | ||
| So that's my thing. | ||
| All right, Joe, and while you were talking, we were showing the moment from Tuesday night's joint address and the reaction in the room, and you could see from a wide camera angle where Congressman Al Green was sitting and the reaction from those in the room, including the speaker and the president. | ||
| We'll go to David next, Massachusetts Independent. | ||
|
unidentified
|
David. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| How are you today? | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| All right. | ||
| What is your view on this? | ||
| Join the conversation here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I've been hearing the conversation. | |
| It's very, very interesting. | ||
| I believe that we have rules and protocol. | ||
| I don't care whether it's a Democrat or Republican. | ||
| I totally disagree with this man doing this. | ||
| But anybody, whether it's Democrat or Republican, should be taken out. | ||
| We know the rules, and why don't we follow them for doing that? | ||
| I think in this case, the Democrats are really, really in a bad place. | ||
| Like they said, there were 10 Democrats that also voted to censor this guy. | ||
| They're just reaching out for things. | ||
| It bothered me in the fact that I remember when Nancy Pelosi ripped up the speech behind Trump in front of everybody. | ||
| Nothing was ever done. | ||
| You know, so my feeling is, and I'm an independent, but if you're on either side and you disrupt that thing, you should be taken out. | ||
| And I'm glad that they censored this band. | ||
| All right. | ||
| David, do you think that that line of argument applies to the Democrats who wore pink and protest or the signs, paddles that they put up with words like Musk steals and false, etc.? | ||
| Some Democrats wore t-shirts that said resist on the back or king doesn't live here and they walked out during this speech. | ||
| Is that all, in your view, not appropriate? | ||
|
unidentified
|
In my view, it's also not appropriate. | |
| I mean, you know, there is certain protocol, and that's just it. | ||
| I get it. | ||
| They look like they were at an auction of holding a paddle. | ||
| I mean, they made themselves look foolish. | ||
| For me, there's a way to do things and a way not to do things. | ||
| And when they start doing things like that, then they're grasping at things. | ||
| And the worst thing about the night for me was that none of them standing up for that child who had cancer, the man who came back from Russia, that's really bad. | ||
| Once you start doing that, then you're just not good with me. | ||
| I mean, and I am also a gay independent, which people look at me saying, how can you be gay and not be a Democrat? | ||
| It has nothing to do with anything. | ||
| I said, you know, it's just behavior that we're taught as children and should be continued on. | ||
| And these people are acting like children. | ||
| So, and I even think the next day when they did censor him and they all started standing around, come on, there you go again. | ||
| You're doing the same thing that you don't want other people to do. | ||
| When they stood around Representative Al Green in the well and started singing, We Shall Overcome to drown out the speaker. | ||
| You think that was also just a doubling down on bad behavior? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Correct, correct. | |
| I mean, you can't, it's like a little baby, you know, that you got to teach them, hey, stop doing this. | ||
| They're going to continue. | ||
| They're going to continue, I think, because they see their future, which is not good. | ||
| And when you have 10 Democrats actually say things, you know, that this should have never happened, that's telling you something. | ||
| Or even Federman, his remarks the other day about, you know, not thinking that this was terrible. | ||
| You got to look at your party people and say, we're approaching this the wrong way. | ||
| We really are approaching. | ||
| All right, David, I'm going to pick up on that because Monica Hess, who is a gender columnist at the Washington Post, writes a piece about what is the right way for Democrats and are they organized to respond to President Trump during his second term? | ||
| She argues that they don't seem to be, that they don't have a strategy here. | ||
| The Pink Protest Club, noting a picture of the Women's Democratic caucus who all wore pink in protest of President Trump at the joint address. | ||
| And she ends her column today in the Washington Post saying this, because Trump was up there bloviating and because Democrats seemed to have so little recourse, because it wasn't clear whether the issue was that Democrats were trying the wrong thing or scarier, that there was actually nothing left to try. | ||
| That Democrats have tried all sorts of things. | ||
| She questions what is the best way to be an effective voice of protest in this era. | ||
| She says, in most years, most recent years, liberals have tried Minnesota nice, coconut trees, going high, going low, going weird, being heartfelt, being snarky, marching, pleading, mocking, understanding, using facts, using pathos. | ||
| And here we are again. | ||
| So for Democrats, what is the best way to protest against the Trump administration? | ||
| Harvey in Wisconsin, Democratic caller. | ||
| Let's hear from you, Harvey. | ||
| Disagree or agree with the censure by the House on Al Green. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I agree with the censor because rules are rules and he steps outside the rules. | |
| But I don't condone what he did, but I understand why he did what he did. | ||
| And I think he did what he did to draw attention to the fact that there's some things that people aren't really aware of. | ||
| And he wanted them to focus on. | ||
| For them to reach this amount of cutting that they're talking, there's no way that they can do that without getting into that Medicaid Medicare deal. | ||
| And also, I think there was another time for the president, if he really wanted to honor those people, the young kid and the lady, he could have done that at another, he could have held another press conference with that. | ||
| This was a time to focus on issues directly affecting each and every individual from the highest to the lowest in our society. | ||
| And he was using Filler, father of great, feeling good about things, which is natural. | ||
| Yeah, that was great. | ||
| I felt good about all of it. | ||
| And I'm a Democrat. | ||
| But that was not the time. | ||
| This was a time to address things that are affecting us. | ||
| Ukraine, the cost of eggs, everything that goes on in our everyday lives in our homes. | ||
| And he covered all that up with all the praise and honor of things, which is important. | ||
| But this was not the time for him to do that. | ||
| All right. | ||
|
unidentified
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And I agree with the censorship. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Harvey in Wisconsin, Democratic caller saying he's a great. | ||
| You sound like the Democrats who voted with the Republicans. | ||
| Here's Representative Marie Glusenkamp-Perez, who represents a swing district in the state of Washington. | ||
| Today I voted to center a fellow member of Congress. | ||
| When you knowingly break House rules, as Representative Greene did, it shouldn't be surprising to face consequences. | ||
| Congress should respect the co-equal office of the presidency, regardless of who holds the job and do and do our Constitution. | ||
| Here's Congresswoman Laura Gillen. | ||
| The American people expect their representative to hold themselves to a certain level of decorum on the House floor. | ||
| If I expect the other side of the aisle to do that, I have to hold my Democratic colleagues to the same standard. | ||
| That's what she had to say. | ||
| Chrissy Houlihan. | ||
| I did indeed have a heated conversation with Speaker Johnson on the House floor after I voted yes to center my colleague. | ||
| I called Speaker Johnson out on his and his party's hypocrisy and reminded him of the many instances in which Republicans have blatantly broken the rules of the House. |