Dueling censure resolutions against two of the House’s most outspoken lawmakers greeted Speaker Mike Johnson on his first full week running the chamber.
These resolutions require a floor vote this week and only need a simple majority vote to pass.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s privileged resolution will force a vote on censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her criticism of Israel and for stoking a pro-Palestinian demonstration in a House office building.
“Rashida Tlaib is an antisemite, pro-Hamas, and led an insurrection into the Capitol complex. Every member of Congress will be on record,” Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, posted on social media. “Including every Democrat. Will they condemn Rashida Tlaib’s hatred or support her sympathy for terrorists?”
The resolution revisits the history of antisemitic rhetoric by Ms. Tlaib, Michigan Democrat:
• Her May 2019 comment that “there’s kind of a calming feeling I always tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out.”
• A 2020 retweet of an illustration of the quote “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is a Palestine Liberation Organization saying that describes the elimination of Israel.
• Her comment after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel in which Ms. Tlaib demanded that Israel’s blockade be lifted, the “occupation” be ended and the “apartheid system” be dismantled.
Ms. Tlaib is also accused of leading what the resolution described as an anti-Israel “insurrection” in the U.S. Capitol complex after the Oct. 7 terror attack.
However, Ms. Greene also is targeted for censure in a resolution introduced by Rep. Becca Balint, Vermont Democrat.
The resolution accuses Ms. Greene of a raft of incendiary remarks, including several antisemitic comments. Ms. Greene was previously punished for the same remarks when the Democrat-run House in 2021 stripped her of committee assignments.
Ms. Balint also added new examples of rhetoric from Ms. Greene that were described as offensive, including displaying a sexually graphic photograph of Hunter Biden at a congressional hearing.
“There is no place for antisemitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ, racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories in the House of Representatives,” Ms. Balint said when announcing the censure resolution.
It accuses Ms. Greene of “repeatedly fanning the flames of racism, antisemitism, LGBTQ hate speech, Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, xenophobia, and other forms of hatred.”
According to the resolution:
• Ms. Greene “repeatedly debased” those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks by “perpetuating conspiracy theories.”
• She “repeatedly assaulted the foundation of our democracy” with conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
• She called for violence against lawmakers and their families and espoused inflammatory evocations of the Holocaust.
• She said in a May 25, 2021, Ms. Greene social media post that “vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.”
• In a September 2022 social media post, she said: “Joe Biden is Hitler. #NaziJoe has to go.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.