Not normal

Things are not normal on the Hill

The House plowed through several censure wars this week — and the president suggested some congressional Democrats should be executed.

By Calen Razor and Benjamin Guggenheim

After a seven-week recess, Speaker Mike Johnson was optimistic about making progress on urgent priorities like government funding and rising health care costs. Instead, the House used hours of floor time to vote five times this week on measures rebuking other members.

“The only thing we can apparently do is condemn each other,” says Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.). “I’ve not seen the House hit this low of a point since I’ve been here.”

Once a rare tactic, censures have become commonplace partly for their use as a political rallying cry and a fundraising boon. Concerned lawmakers are now scrambling to stop the censure wars from escalating.

Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would require 60 percent of the House — rather than the current simple majority — to approve a censure of a member, disapprove their conduct or remove them from committee assignments.

“The institution needs some protection,” Bacon said in an interview.

House leaders seem open to curbing the personal brawling. Johnson called the general suggestion of a rule change “an intriguing idea” and said he’d be “open to having that conversation.” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also said he is “open-minded about what the possibilities are in terms of getting the Congress out of this repeated effort by Republicans to censure members.”

President Donald Trump added fuel to the fire when he declared Thursday morning that six Democratic lawmakers are engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOUR, punishable by DEATH!” The Democrats — Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (N.H.) and Chris Deluzio (Pa.) — shared a video Tuesday encouraging U.S. military members to disobey unlawful orders.

Johnson initially defended Trump, saying it was the Democrats who were acting “wildly inappropriate.” He later conceded “the words that the president chose are not the ones I would use.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said of Trump’s suggestion of executions: “I don’t agree with that.”