Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is calling for additional security funding for House members following President Trump’s campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday night where he ramped up attacks on four minority congresswomen.
Trump used his rally in Greenville, N.C., to escalate his attacks on Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.). At one point, the crowd broke into chants of “send her back” when Trump went after Omar, a first-term lawmaker and Somali refugee.
“The president now has pushed the envelope to an extreme by taking this beyond his words to the words of other people,” Green, who serves as ranking member on a House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, told Hill.TV on Thursday.
“This is very serious and what was said about someone being hurt is something I take seriously and to this end, I’m announcing to you for the very first time that I will be asking for additional money for security for all members of the House,” he added.
Green, who has been an outspoken critic calling for Trump’s impeachment, said even though House leadership has security, not all members are afforded the same protection.
“We must secure every member of this House because we are headed into uncharted waters and someone can be hurt,” he told Hill.TV.
The House on Wednesday voted to kill a resolution from Green to impeach Trump after the president told the four Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to their home countries.
In a 332-95 vote, a majority of Democrats, along with the chamber’s Republicans, voted to table the measure for the time being.
The vote marked the first time that articles of impeachment were brought under the new Democratic majority, marking an ever-widening schism between Democrats over the issue of impeachment.
While Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has sought to squash talk of impeachment, the 95 Democrats who voted in favor of Green’s resolution showed that a large number of Democrats want to take action against Trump.
Green, whose previous impeachment votes have accused Trump of inflaming racial tensions, made it clear that he doesn’t plan on giving up on impeachment anytime soon, calling it a “process.”
“I will take this issue to the floor again — we cannot also bigotry to rear its ugly head at the highest level of government,” he told Hill.TV. “This is a president now standing before a crowd of people who have moved from ‘lock her up’ to ‘send her back.’ ”
—Tess Bonn
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