A House floor debate on a resolution condemning President Trump’s tweet about four minority freshmen women stalled Wednesday after Republicans accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of breaking the rules by calling the president a racist.
Rep. Doug Collins, R-Georgia, ordered Pelosi’s floor speech in support of the resolution “taken down,” after first asking her to rephrase her comments about the president.
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Pelosi condemned Trump’s comments as “xenophobic,” “disgusting,” and “disgraceful.”
Pelosi said she “cleared” her floor speech in advance with parliamentarian Tom Wickham.
But Wickham made no immediate call on Collins’ request and instead poured through a rules book on the dais.
The House has scheduled an evening vote on the measure.
Republicans are eager to trip up Democrats during debate.
House rules prohibit making personality-based comments at any individual and expressly prohibits calling someone a racist.
Trump in a Sunday tweet called for Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts, to “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.”
On Tuesday, tensions rose after no resolution, and the resolution continued to stall. Rep. Emanual Cleaver, D-Missouri, who was presiding, started to lecture the House, arguing lawmakers “want to just fight” and not act fairly. “I abandon the chair,” Cleaver said, walking off.
