(WASHINGTON) -- The House voted on Thursday to censure Democrat Al Green over his outburst at President Donald Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday night.
The Republican-led effort passed 224-198 with two members voting present, one of them being Green. Ten Democrats voted on the resolution to censure Green.
The Texas Democrat was immediately called to the well for a public reading of the resolution by Speaker Mike Johnson. Green and other Democrats surrounding him there began singing the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," which prompted the Republican side to yell "order."
A screaming match between House Democrats and Republicans broke out. At one point, Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley yelled back, "Shame on you!" Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib also shouted at Republicans.
In a brief appearance on Fox News after the vote, Johnson called it "a really sad day for out institution."
Rep. Andy Ogles, a hardline member of the House Freedom Caucus, posted on X he's already drafting a resolution to remove each of the Democrats who demonstrated alongside Green from their committees.
Green spoke on the House floor hours after being censured. He read the resolution aloud and offered his own commentary.
"Mr. Speaker and still I rise," Green said, "and still I rise a proud, liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed and unafraid."
Green continued to criticize Trump's agenda and animatedly explained why he and other Democrats sang in the well, calling it an "act of incivility."
"We have to not allow [Trump's] incivility, his requirement of fealty to prevent us from taking the necessary actions to protect liberty and justice for all, to protect government of the people, by the people, for the people ... We have to do what is necessary. I believe we have to engage in a level of positive, righteous incivility."
The censure resolution was introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse, who called Green's behavior on Tuesday "unacceptable." Democrats tried and failed on Wednesday evening to block the measure.
A censure resolution is a formal reprimand by the House for violations of the chamber's code of conduct. A vote to censure a member of the House does not hold any power beyond a public condemnation of the member's behavior and it does not deny the member privileges.
Censuring House members has been historically rare, but in the last few years we've seen members from both political parties use this as a political tool. Green is the fifth member of Congress to be censured in this decade.
Some House Republicans are floating more punitive measures against Green. The House Freedom Caucus said its members plan to try to strip Green of his committee assignments next week.
Green is not the only lawmaker to interrupt a presidential address to Congress. In 2022, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert repeatedly interrupted then-President Joe Biden's speech. Greene did it again during Biden's 2024 State of the Union address.
On Thursday, ten Democrats supported the censure resolution: Reps. Ami Bera of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Wahsingont and Tom Suozzi of New York.
But many Democrats criticized the resolution.
"That censure vote was outrageous to my mind," Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told ABC News about Green's vote. "What they've done is they've completely watered down the meaning of censure. Censuring people over heckling. Of course, now we'll have to start censuring Marjorie Taylor Greene, she repeatedly heckled President Biden."
"We know that we've seen Marjorie [Taylor Greene] yell at Joe Biden. There was no outrage. None. So there shouldn't be any outrage today," Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett said on ABC News Live.
When asked about the 10 Democrats who supported the censure, Crockett said, "I don't know their reason or their rational, but I know I voted the way that I did and at the end of the day if my district decides I need to go because I voted that way then so be it. But I stand with Al Green."
Moments before the vote, Johnson had told ABC News he took "no pleasure in making history like this" and hoped Green would "acknowledge his mistake."
"I want us to have proper decorum. I want us to maintain really the great tradition of this institution," Johnson said. "And these things do damage to it and I'm sorry that it happened."
Green was ejected from the joint session on Tuesday after interrupting the president's speech and refusing to sit down despite warnings from Johnson.
"He chose to deliberately violate House rules in a manner that we think is probably unprecedented in history -- interrupting a message of a president of the United States, who is an honored guest," Johnson explained ahead of the vote.