Breaking: Beltway Meltdown as Pelosi Goes Too Far with Trump Attack, Appears To Have Broken House Rules
Congressional reporters in Washington, D.C., were scrambling to keep up Tuesday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California appeared to break House rules during remarks from the floor.
It all started as Pelosi delivered a speech that referred to Trump’s comments Sunday regarding a group of female progressive lawmakers as “racist.”
Trump suggested the congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.”
“There is no place anywhere for the president’s words, which are not only divisive, but dangerous — and have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color,” Pelosi said Tuesday. “It’s so sad because you would think that there would be a given that we would universally, in this body, just say, ‘Of course. Of course.'”
“There’s no excuse for any response to those words but a swift and strong unified condemnation,” she added, according to Fox News.
.@SpeakerPelosi: “Every single member of this institution…should join us in condemning the president’s racist tweets. To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people.” pic.twitter.com/nsskh7TuCS
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 16, 2019
“Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, should join us in condemning the president’s racist tweets. To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values, and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people. I urge a unanimous vote, and yield back the balance of my time.”
After Pelosi was done, Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins asked if she’d like to “rephrase that comment.”
GOP GA Rep Collins asserts that Pelosi’s words broke decorum & demanded they be “taken down.” Hse will have to decide if her words are in order. If ruled out of order, Pelosi could be banned from speaking on the flr the rest of the day. Collins asked Pelosi to withdraw her words
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 16, 2019
“I have cleared my remarks with the parliamentarian before I read them,” Pelosi responded.
That wasn’t good enough for Collins, who said: “Can I ask the words be taken down? I make a point of order that the gentlewoman’s words are unparliamentary and be taken down.”
1) Extraordinary that a member of the minority would flag the Speaker for their remarks on the floor.
Pelosi said that her words were cleared by the parliamentarian.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 16, 2019
At issue was a passage from the Jefferson Manual of Parliamentary Practice, which the House uses as a sort of rulebook to guide its operations.
“References to racial or other discrimination on the part of the President are not in order,” the passage reads. “As such, remarks may not refer to the President as: (1) a racist … (2) having made ‘racial slurs’ or ‘racial epithets’ … (3) telling a ‘racist lie’ … (4) a bigot … (5) having made a bigoted or racist statement … (6) having taken a bigoted action … (7) not caring about black people … (8) a misogynist … (9) having run a prejudiced campaign.”
House members from both parties then “huddled” with the House parliamentarian,” as Fox noted.
Congressional reporters, meanwhile, breathlessly narrated the sequence of events over Twitter:
A vote is possible on whether to take Pelosi’s words down, per Dem sources.
— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) July 16, 2019
Dem aides have been huddling for roughly 30 minutes and counting trying to sort this out with the parliamentarian https://t.co/Kkfr4LkIj3
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 16, 2019
Quite the scene on the house floor as Democrats await a ruling on whether @SpeakerPelosi’s speech about trump was improper
On the floor: swalwell, nadler, Raskin, butterfield.
On the gop side, @GOPLeader McCarthy has just arrived.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 16, 2019
The key procedure is called “words taken down” and could result in @SpeakerPelosi comments being excluded from official record. Waiting for outcome. pic.twitter.com/B1TYU7qFf6
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) July 16, 2019
The delay is dragging on, which will force the vote to condemn the president later into the evening.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 16, 2019
Others can speak more authoritatively than me, especially with respect to the past few years, but I can’t ever remember a member of the minority moving that the speaker of the House’s words be taken down. Not under Ryan, Boehner, Pelosi 1.0, or Hastert.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) July 16, 2019
Earlier today, @SpeakerPelosi joked that she had no intention of clearing her words about Trump with the parliamentarian —> https://t.co/VeE6009Zsv
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) July 16, 2019
Regardless of the content of Trump’s racist statement, Democrats are going to have a hard time not taking down Pelosi’s words.
Jefferson’s Manual literally says you can’t refer to a statement by the President as racist on the House floor. pic.twitter.com/CeIJA24TS9
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) July 16, 2019
Source on House floor says Ds and Rs are debating many points concerning @SpeakerPelosi’s remarks abt Trump, incl. if she will be able to speak again today on floor
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) July 16, 2019
It was hard to tell what exactly was going on, but Pelosi did at one point did appear to walk off the House floor, which, according to Fox, “constitutes a violation of House Rules when someone’s words are taken down.”
Collins has offered to rescind the call for striking the speaker’s words, but the deal would call for Pelosi to return to the floor and deliver either some revised or added remarks…
— Billy House (@HouseInSession) July 16, 2019
Collins has offered to rescind the call for striking the speaker’s words, but the deal would call for Pelosi to return to the floor and deliver either some revised or added remarks…
— Billy House (@HouseInSession) July 16, 2019
Parliamentarian likely to rule against Pelosi here, then Dems will request a vote & override that ruling
— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) July 16, 2019
Later, Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, who was presiding over the session, gave up and abandoned his chair.
Well this is unprecedented. Rep. Emanuel cleaver abandoned the chair as he was presiding over the chamber.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 16, 2019
for context: apparently Cleaver just abandoned the chair in the House and left his post out of frustration with the whole Pelosi v. GOP on striking words from the record. https://t.co/27yMDV4LsK
— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) July 16, 2019
In the chair now is Rep. GK Butterfield of North Carolina. Like cleaver, a senior member of the CBC.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 16, 2019
In the chair now is Rep. GK Butterfield of North Carolina. Like cleaver, a senior member of the CBC.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 16, 2019
Ummm … I’ve covered Congress for a long time – never saw a member “abandon the chair” … until today. @repcleaver just walked off the rostrum after he was “ready to make a statement…”
— Molly Hooper (@mollyhooper) July 16, 2019
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland ended up presiding over the session and acknowledged that Pelosi’s remarks were out of order.
Now Hoyer is in the chair, noting that @SpeakerPelosi’s words were out of order.
The house is voting to take down pelosis words. This vote is likely to be party line, and likely to fail.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 16, 2019
In a highly unusual rebuke to the speaker, the House parliamentarian said Pelosi’s comments were not in order and should be stricken from record. House now voting on GOP motion to strike her words from record, but it will fail https://t.co/F7aWrzDSZK
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 16, 2019
BREAKING NEWS —> Speaker Pelosi just broke the rules of the House, and is no longer permitted to speak on the floor of the House for the rest of the day.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 16, 2019
“Speaker Pelosi just broke the rules of the House, and is no longer permitted to speak on the floor of the House for the rest of the day,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California tweeted.
But Pelosi eventually returned to the floor and addressed her previous comments.
Pelosi, standing by her remarks on the floor condemning POTUS racist tweets: pic.twitter.com/gy79TCiwzf
— Kristin Wilson Keppler (@TheOtherKeppler) July 16, 2019
“I’m proud of my remarks and I’m glad they’re getting the attention they’re getting,” she said.
While Republicans wanted to strike Pelosi’s floor remarks from the record, a motion that would so failed in a 232-190 vote, according to The Hill.
JUST IN: House votes not to strike Speaker Pelosi’s words calling the president’s tweets “racist” from the congressional record. https://t.co/yWyBWzxkn8 pic.twitter.com/Nhonbb2LL4
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 16, 2019
Two hours and 45 minutes after Pelosi’s comments, the U.S. House voted 231-190, again along party lines, to allow Pelosi to retain her speaking privileges for the rest of the day. (Amash voted with Rs.) pic.twitter.com/abs11xbJcQ
— Greg Giroux (@greggiroux) July 16, 2019
The House then voted 231-190 to allow Pelosi to keep her floor speaking privileges on Tuesday.
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