Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) urged lawmakers to show “decorum” after a House Oversight hearing devolved into personal attacks and partisan infighting on Thursday night.
“I think decorum is an important thing for us to maintain around here. And we’ve got to take the emotion out of these things, and deal with the issues on their substance,” Johnson said on Friday, calling the conduct on display at the hearing, held to mark up a resolution finding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, “regrettable.”
“It’s something that I talk about often with all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and will continue to advance that,” he added. “I think it’s important for us to show that to the country that … even when we disagree, even vehemently, we’ve got to treat one another with dignity and respect. I think it’s an important principle.”
Johnson’s comments come after a verbal fight in which committee members in both parties lobbed insults about each other’s physical appearance and personal intelligence.
The chaos began after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) that she misunderstood a question because her “fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
It’s a violation of House decorum for members to engage in “disorderly language.” After a lawmaker is accused of violating the House rule, another member can request the words be “taken down,” meaning the statement must be read aloud by the House clerk for the presiding member — in this case, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) — to determine whether it is in order.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made the request for Greene’s words to be taken down, prompting another back-and-forth in which Greene then insulted Ocasio-Cortez.
“Why don’t you debate me?” Greene asked.
“I think it’s pretty self-evident,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.
“Yeah, you don’t have enough intelligence,” Greene shot back.
Committee members requested a vote on whether Greene should be silent for the duration of the meeting, which Republicans ultimately shot down. However, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) voted with Democrats to silence Greene, later saying she considered the incident an “embarrassment.”
“I couldn’t bring myself to stand in defense of that,” Boebert said on Friday. “I wouldn’t do it for the other side.”
After the vote, Crockett appeared to insult Greene’s “butch” appearance.
Oversight ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) suggested to CBS News there may have been some drinking by lawmakers ahead of the hearing, something Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told the outlet was not true “despite the accusations.”
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez criticized Johnson for what she called “both sidesing” the hearing with his call for decorum. In particular, she criticized the committee for allowing Greene to continue participating.
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“Notice that when Dems have the majority, these things don’t happen,” she posted on X.
A similar contempt measure had passed through the House Judiciary Committee earlier in the day, which Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) called “rational and sane” compared to the subsequent Oversight meeting.