WASHINGTON, July 17: The US House of Representatives approved a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s controversial racial remarks about four Democratic members of Congress.
The House voted 240-187 on Tuesday along party lines to pass the resolution, which “strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
Trump during a series of Twitter posts in recent days has repeatedly criticized “Democrat Congresswomen” for “spreading hate,” saying people who complain about the United States should go back to the “broken and crime infested” countries from which they came.
The four lawmakers, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, are all US citizens and belong to a minority race.
In a fiercely heated debate ahead of Tuesday’s vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her fellow lawmakers to back the resolution, calling Trump’s tweets “disgraceful” and “racist.”
“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,” Pelosi said.
But Republican lawmakers interjected during Pelosi’s remarks to demand that her comments be removed from the record. Congressman Doug Collins called for Pelosi’s “unparliamentary” words to be “taken down,” saying she violated the chamber’s rules for decorum.
Any lawmaker can demand that another member’s words be removed from the record if it is believed that the comments violate the rules of the House.
The House parliamentarian ruled against Pelosi. However, the measure to remove Pelosi’s remarks was defeated by a 190-232 margin.
(AGENCIES)
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