event to this event. in the 40 plus years that i have served here, there has never been a case like this. never. this is not about control as the majority leader would represent. it is about decency, democracy, and security. and the rule of law. we have seen, madame speaker, over and over again in our politics that words matter and actions matter even more. vitriol, the glorification and promotion of violence, hate speech and the failure to condemn all of those when they occur have created an atmosphere in our country which sadly has

now and too frequently been visited on this floor that is not conducive to the exercise of free constitutional politics. former leader of my party, dick gepheart said that democracy was a substitute for war. that we should settle our differences peacefully and nonviolently. the speech that has been the subject of this resolution wills away at the rule of law and the stability needed to constructive debate. indeed, violent words and images are too often a precursor to the practice of violence. we've seen that. we saw it on january 6th as the president of the united states

incited and urged people to come to the congress to stop democracy in its tracks. and people wanted to hang the vice president of the united states as a result of those words because he was not doing that because he thought it was not legal. he wanted to follow the law. my friend gabby giffords and senator kelly know that all too well that violent words and images are too often a precursor, as does representative spear who worked for the late representative leo ryan and was herself badly injured in the shooting that took his life. as well, my friend, the republican whip and his family know that words can encourage and result in violence. last month the family of constituents of sir david amos

in the united kingdom experienced the same pain. all of us who were in this capitol on january 6th and those who stood in defense of it know that pain. the loved ones of officer sicknick, smith, freetag carry that pain every day. officer evans family has carried that pain since april. madame speaker, so do the f families of journalists and civil society leaders who have been killed or maimed by political violence across the world, incited by rhetoric that is rationalized as acceptable in the political environment. and then, oh, i don't support violence. i don't know how that happened. yes, i said in the front of the

capitol of the united states, excuse me, of the white house, go down to the capitol, and although it wasn't the exact words of be violent, it's what those who came down here expected the exhortation to be. it would be naive, madame speaker to suppose that we can eradicate the promotion of violence in wider society either in our country or abroad. such evil has always existed and the international and social media make it easier to disseminate that malicious type of speech, but constitutional parliament worldwide have long understood that in order to maintain the level of civility required to carry out the business of legislation for the people, we must have rules of decorum. and limits on speech that would cause civil debate to devovl into uncivil attacks and political violence. that's why we have rules in this

house to enforce decorum and ensure civility. that's why we have rules of conduct which the chairman of the ethics committee read a little earlier. it should be and is undebatable that this conduct violated that rule. those rules apply not only to this floor but everywhere a sitting member engages in work relating to his or her service as a representative. when those rules were written, they did not anticipate that a member would threaten violence directly against another member. not because it's never happened. a congressman from south carolina nearly beat to death a senator from massachusetts. senator sumner because he wanted to abolish slavery. that of course was a crime. in some countries, threatening public officials is a crime.

didn't have to spell out that explicitly because it has always been understood that such behavior is unacceptable. in this institution, and incompatible with our service indeed, any kindergarten, frankly, madame speaker, will tell you that such behavior is wrong anywhere. the actions of representative gosar this week and in weeks previously much like the actions of representative greene, earlier this week would convey a dangerous lesson to our children and teenagers that the opposite is true, that threatening violence against those with whom one disagrees is acceptable. it is not. that bullying and encouraging one follower to menace another person or group is somehow compatible with citizenship and democracy and indeed a civilized society. it is not. the resolution before us today

is necessary because we in this house, we speak for the american people must reflect as the speaker said, the highest standards of american society. i just came from the speaker's office not too long ago. i don't know how many of you have been there. but over the door, it is the robert michael rooms. i had the opportunity to serve with robert michael. he was a republican, he was from peoria, illinois. he was one of the finest, most decent men that i have known, not just serving in the congress of the united states but have known. he said this, quote civility means being tough without being mean. being witty without being malicious. and believing in the power of reason to influence public debate while still being aware of the power, hear these last words, being aware of the power

of irrationality in public life. this resolution, madame speaker, is necessary because when members of congress and other elected officials speak and act, our constituents and followers give great weight to our words and actions. it is a way for them to rationalize unacceptable behavior as was done on january 6th. it is disgusting, madame speaker, whenever someone out in the world tweets a threat of violence or hateful content, but when a member of the house does so, no matter how you rationalize it, no matter how you try to put lipstick on that pig, it is a threat of violence. what representative gosar did last week is not just worthy of censure, it demands it. and for anyone who threatens to apply the same standard to

democrats in the future as ms. spears said, i'm with you. this is not about republicans or democrats. this is about decency. this is about security for our members. this is about democracy. not violent overthrow or opposition. i for one will join you in enforcing that standard on any democrat who violates it. but i will tell you this, your analogies, madame speaker, the analogies that the republicans have been making, limp badly. i'm certain my fellow democrats will do the same because this is not about party. it's not about politics. it's not about partisanship. it's about decorum, civility, safety, and yes, the rule of law that was trampled upon on january 6th. but this is not about january

6th. but this is about this incident of a member using whatever medium you want to say on the public dime threatening and showing the killing of a member of this house. can't that apal you, even that act, do you have no shame? madame speaker, those are the questions that i would ask. no one, democrat or republican ought to be involved to engage in the promotion of violence against a fellow member or indeed a fellow american because we know where the glorification and promotion of violence leads, we have seen it this year, previous years, piercing tweets become sharp knives. fiery words bring out deadly firearms and cartoon killing begets real life bloodshed. this resolution specifically addresses representative gosar's action but also reflects more generally, madame speaker, what i hope is the sentiment shared

by members from both parties that we have seen too much of violent speech in our politics and in this country, and it must end. in february, when we considered a resolution relating to the violence promoting and undecor rows actions of representative green, i recall the famous words of edmond burke who viewed service in his nation's parliament as the highest calling, he said nothing is necessary for the spread of evil but that good men and women, he did not add that, but would today, certainly, that good men and good women do nothing. once again, the republican leadership in this house has chosen to do nothing. it's interesting because a far lesser offense resulted in the removal of a republican by the

republicans from committee. steve king of iowa. so again, the house in light of that avoid must take action. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on both sides of the aisle. to uphold a standard that should be critical to us all. some modicum of respect for those who are our political opponents, madame speaker. and some restraint in the way we depict them and ourselves. vote yes on this resolution, i yield back the balance of my time. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> madame speak e i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comber, the ranking member of the oversight and reform committee. >> the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> during democrats' leadership of the house, we have seen an

unprecedented exercise of authority only a democrat could wield due to the authoritarian nature of actions. democrat leadership has fined republican members for not masking, installed metal detectors, stripped a member of committee assignments, and fought to enforce sweeping subpoenas against the former president and advisers. i'm not talking about subpoenas related to the events of january 6th. democrats on the oversight committee are chilling if not infringing first amendment rights of advocacy groups, corporations and individuals. they have asked for communications between certain nonprofit organizations and certain members' offices. these communications fall squarely within the right to petition and freely associate. and today, we're debating a resolution to censure dr. gosar for something he posted to his twitter account. while republicans certainly do not condone violence, and

extreme behavior, my question for this body is when will we exact punishment in an equitable, that's one of the favorite words of my democrat colleagues, equitable manner. madame speaker, we have democrat colleagues who routinely call for violence in the streets, make anti-semitic comments on twitter, launch obscenities at our elected officials and engage in inappropriate relationships with chinese operatives. yet, madame speaker, these democrats maintain even their leadership positions on prestigious and sensitive committees like the intelligence committee. the last time we took this extraordinary step to censure a member of this house it was congressman wrangle and that was after a thorough ethics committee investigation into tax invasion, improper use of official resources and other improper benefits. instead of solving america's crises, drugs flowing across the southern border, rising gas

prices, and grocery prices and this ongoing pandemic, we are here on the floor debating the censure of dr. gosar, he posted something on twitter. >> time has expired. >> i would urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution. and i yield back. >> gentleman from florida. >> madame speaker, i yield one and a half minutes to a member of the house ethics committee, the gentlewoman from texas. >> recognized for one and one-half minutes. >> like representative ocasio-cortez i too have serve instead this house for three years, and i have found the dignity and respect that we deserve and owe one another in this chamber, it has been severely lacking. while my democratic colleagues and i continue to work on critical legislation that improves the lives of americans, mr. gosar has decided to focus on promoting xenophobia, and fete sizing violence, fanning the flames of hate.

words have power. my community knows that only too well, and the example we set as members of congress is followed by millions of americans. mr. go sar's actions lower the bard, obliterate standards for respect and civility, and make this workplace unsafe by targeting a colleague, a woman of color. i'd like to note that women of color are frequent targets of hateful rhetoric and attacks like these. in any other environment, in any other environment, someone like mr. gosar would have immediately faced termination, would have to live with the consequences of his dangerous actions and words, but not in the republican conference. mr. gosar's video which glorifies the gruesome killing of our colleague and a violent attack against our president should have sparked immediate condemnation and action by the minority leader and his entire

conference. but instead we're told to relax. and we're threatened, told that if we dare take action, we will face retaliation. my colleagues, when you -- >> time has expired. gentle lady from indiana. >> additional 15 seconds. >> thank you, mr. chair. when you give hate, racism, and violence cover, you give it life. with this vote we are saying not on our watch. i invite my republican colleagues to do what's right, and support this resolution. thank you, mr. chairman, thank you, madame speaker, i yield back. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. roid. >> gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> i thank the gentle lady for yielding. my colleague just referenced the phrase any other environment, that there would be some cond

consequences, well this is not any other environment. this is the house of representatives. we have constituents who elect us, send us to washington to represent them, engage in debate, engage in often heated discussions with each other. this is not the same. one of the fundamental problems we have as a chamber right now is it's being treated that way. it's being treated that way by the majority, shutting down our ability to engage in actual debate. sh shutting down our ability to move about the chamber wearing these masks, talking about right now with cms and what's happening as early as december 5th, doctors in san antonio, texas, which i represent, being unable to perform their task as doctors, resulting in loss of life, being able to carry out their livelihoods through vaccine mandates. we've got untold harm occurring in south texas with bodies and body trailers, we've got people dying. we've got actual consequences

from these vaccine mandates causing people to lose their jobs, whether they're osha related, private sector jobs, military, defense, border patrol, all of this happening as we head towards december 3rd with the potential government shut down. and this is what we're having an actual debate on the floor of the house for. i have not seen this chamber look like this since i have been in congress where we're debating an issue, and we've got a hundred members on the floor. we're down here giving speeches to an empty chamber. let me be clear, i would not have posted that video. i would have told my staff i don't want to do that if i knew what was in it. okay. but the video that was posted was an effort to make a point. and we're now getting into the business of chilling debate and discussion about censuring our members. and going down the road of

pulling each other off of committees. where is this going to end, when republicans are back in the majority, where is that going to end. when my colleague, ocasio-cortez told my former boss ted cruz an attempted murderer, saying not asked for her to be stripped, but just to apologize, it was met with utter silence. i called then and i call now, for us to drop that down, and actually engage in debate on the issues that matter. actually engage in debate on what's occurring right now in america where people are getting -- >> time is expired. >> i yield one minute to the gentle gentle lady from texas. >> representative gosar's behavior is alarming, unacceptable, and should never ever be tolerated. official communication accounts of a member of the united states congress should never in any way show or encourage violence against a colleague or threaten the president of the united

states. on january 6th, we personally experienced a consequences of allowing this kind of viciousness and vulgarity. put simply, violent images in our politics encourages violence against any of us. no one, especially women, and women of color should fear coming to do the work they were elected to do for the people. we must encourage young women to lead, not silence them. by tolerating threats like the congressman of gosar. as members of congress, we must set an example for the entire country, instead of encourage violence against others. it is our moral imperative to be collegial to one another. it is our responsibility to hold ourselves accountable, and it is our obligation to protect the integrity and honor the united states congress. children are watching the world is watching. >> time has expired! thank you, i yield back. >> madame speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the

gentleman from north dakota, mr. armstrong. >> thank you, madame speaker. i was in minneapolis the saturday that speech was given, so to say that it was an analogous is i think fairly uncertain. the entire town was a tinderbox, and so as we continue to move through this, i would appreciate a little less of the self-righteous indignation because what is really damaging here, and what is really unfortunate is that we have abandoned any recognition of consti institutional integrity, any notion that some things should be above partisanship. i believe this, what i thought was said in minneapolis doesn't rise to incitement of violence, irresponsible, absolutely, the same thing with this post, it was dumb, silly, stupid, mean spirited, but you know what it's not, it's not incitement of violence, and when we use hyperbole in those words, we cause ourselves problems. there's no point and attempt with the majority at this point

to follow through on any rules or procedures. the u.s. house of representatives looks significantly more like a junior high lunchroom than a legislative body. if you're in our click, you're okay. if not, tough. if we like you, no fines. if we don't, we'll take it out of your paycheck. a member on your side calls for violence, motion to table. a member on our side, stand in the well and answer for your sins. rules matter, process matters, the institution matters. and this will be the fourth member of the minority stripped of their committees by the majority this congress. that has never happened before. but it's going to happen again, and that's what i don't understand. i understand completely why the majority's leadership is willing to do anything to maintain control over the caucus until the next election. in the process you are all negatively and permanently changing the way this body functions forever. you are weaponizing the gavel against minority members, and if you think it stops at the next election, i have no doubt that

the leadership in the majority has no intention of going back to being a rank and file member in the minority. but the rest of you all will. and how do you think this ends? when the pendulum swings, and it will, you are all going to suffer the consequences. >> gentle lady, i yield an additional 30 seconds. >> and the institution is going to suffer for it. and it's already suffering for it. committee structures, scheduling hearings, witness lists, these are purviews of the majority but rules of conduct and decorum have to be applied equality to all members or the institution continues to degrade, and the rules are not being applied equally, and it's noticed by us, it's noticed by the american people. it's unfortunate and it's sad, and with that i yield back. >> members are once again reminded to address their remarks to the chair. gentleman from florida. >> i yield one minute to the house majority whip. >> gentleman's recognized for one minute. >> thank you very much, madame speaker, and i thank the gentleman for yielding me the

time. madame speaker, i rise in strong support of the censure resolution. today's actions is necessary due to representative gosar's shocking depiction of a murder of a colleague and a violent attack against the president of the united states. this incendiary behavior cannot go unaddressed. the minority leader's failure to hold his conference member accountable leaves us no choice but to proceed with this action. i often refer to the hall of this house as america's classroom. as members of this body, we should conduct ourselves in the way that we must want our students to emulate. mr. gosar's behavior fails our students, fails our colleagues,

and fails our nation and our ideals we espouse. i urge unanimous support for this resolution. i yield back the balance of my time. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> madame speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia mr. good. >> gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> as my colleagues have said, this is not about mr. gosar. this is about hypocrisy from the majority and the double standard. does anyone in this chamber think we would be here today if the exact situation was reversed? clearly we'd not be here today. the american people don't care about what we're doing here today. when we get back to our districts next week, no one will ask about the cartoon video, what happens about that. the media cares, as we can see here today. my colleagues across the aisle care because they have an opportunity again here, but when our hard working constituents, what they care about is the

disastrous policies enacted by this administration, and the majority. the disastrous policies, none of which are working, we cannot point to one thing in the country that's going well under these disastrous policies, the border invasion, the rising gas prices, the out of control inflation, the reckless spending of our children's future. the failure in afghanistan. our failure with our standing around the world, there's not one issue, rising crime, nothing they can point to, so instead we point to a distraction to pretend that this matters to the american people. we've got this faux outrage as others who have said because said just this week on the generic ballot, republicans are up by 13% but the tone deaf majority is trying to ram through as much of their partisan agenda as they can, but what they're going to find out is america spoke two weeks ago in the election, and there are many of their constituents and now former democrats who spoke

two weeks ago as well, and they're saying what in the world are we doing here on the house floor today. we're stalling before we try to pass a radical build back aoc's budget bill, and here we are today trying to punish a member, another ounce of flesh, trying silence republican voices on committees, and i urge all of my colleagues to vote against this sham bill. and resolution. i yield back. >> gentleman from florida. >> i yield one natch minutes to the gentle lady from florida. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. madame speaker i rise to urge the censure and removal from committees for portraying the murder of a fellow colleague, and promoting violence against immigrants. we know promoting visions of violence foments actual violence. january 6th taught us that. and surely we cannot use taxpayer's money to promote violent images and conduct directed at other members. i still see bedside visions of

my friend gabby giffords fighting for her life after being shot at a district event, her aide already dead. i shutter to recall our own colleague mr. scalise limping to the chamber on a cane because someone tried to assassinate him. residue clings to a stairwell where a pipe bomb sent by a deranged trump supporter had to be later safely detonated. the history of violence against women and people of color are worst chapters. it's ironic that mr. gosar compares himself to alexander hamilton, and another member compared the violence, because hamilton was killed by accepted high class violence in his day in a duel. promoting and glorifying such conduct cannot be condoned or ignored by this body. voting to censure mr. gosar today denounces it

unequivocally. i yield back the balance of my time. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from indiana, mr. higgins. >> madame speaker, america is being crushed under the oppressive weight of the democrats' greed for lust and power. they want totalitarian control over every aspect of america's life, and ruling the people's house as this they were royalty. america is dissolving under our feet and democrats are worried about cartoons. in afghanistan, democrats led the betrayal of american honor, and the abandonment of american citizens, granted control of the afghan theater, to taliban terrorists, and arming those jihadis jihadist terrorists with billions of dollars of weapons system. american sovereignty lost in control of our own border, completely criminal cartel.

and persecuted by our own fbi because parented had the a audacity to challenge government indocket nation of children, assembly to address their grievances at their own school boards in their own communities. american parents treated like criminals. americans are dealing with unbelievable inflation. families cannot afford groceries and fuel, and millions of americans are being commanded by federal decree to choose between losing a job or kneeling to comply with an unconstitutional mandated medical procedure. and the oppressors intend to distract you with cartoons over the speaker's podium or forever etch the words in god we trust. scripture says a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity. i stand with my brother paul

gosar ode because i stand against oppression and persecution. i yield. >> gentleman from florida. >> i yield one minute to committee member from new york. >> gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madame speaker not since the civil war has congress operated under the constant threat of viole violence from some of its own members, but here we are. that is the behavior that mr. gosar has encouraged. maybe i shouldn't be surprised having watched so many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle incite, and then express support for the insurrectionists who nearly killed us in this chamber on january 6th. we cannot let the republican party make congress the only workplace in america where violence against your coworkers is not a crime but a credential. if we don't hold people like mr. gosatellit gosar accountable, we will only embolden them to bring their

fever dreams to life. we are standing up for the safety of our colleagues, for the safety of congresswoman oc ocasio-cortez and for the future of our democracy. madame speaker, i yield back. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas texas. >> thank you, madame speaker. i looked at the video anime and was trying to figure out. i couldn't see, i'm told if you stop it frame by frame you can see what democrat friends are talking about. i couldn't see it. i tried to freeze frame and i saw what i was told was supposed to be our colleague, congresswoman ocasio-cortez, i was insulted if that's supposed to be her, that's really unfair, but i didn't see the violence being talk about. we should not condone violence. but the reason it's so hard to

sit here and listen to the condemnation from the other side, madame speaker, is because when there was violence against us, there was no condemnation. my wife and i went to a speech at the white house, and i have yet to hear anybody condemn the attempted violence on us. we were chased for two blocks. ron paul was on tv when he was chased because he had cameras and secret service. we didn't have that. and if it weren't for a guy popping up and opening a locked door, i told kathy, look, i'm afraid they're going to get here before this door is opened, you run on down to pennsylvania, there are cops down there. they'll be beating on me. you just get away. nobody's condemned all that violence that i've ever heard. this is where we ought to be

able to come together. oh, and by the way, people that committed violence did crimes in this building need to be punished but for many of them, the most serious crime was obstructing an official session of congress. well, it turns out, they didn't know it was a crime in 2016, but most of the democratic party committed a felony right here in this chamber by obstructing an official session of congress not six hours like january 6th but 26 hours. let's come together and agree on what is -- gentleman from florida is recognized. >> lady from california. >> gentle lady is recognized for one minute. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding, and i want to thank congressman spear for her leadership, and bringing this with urgency. representative gosar used taxpayer funded resources to publicize a cartoon of him killing one of our house colleagues, congresswoman ocasio-cortez and threatening to kill the president.

when republicans don't condemn death threats against their colleagues, it sends a message to the public that these threats are condoned. their silence, and misrepresentation in light of these threats speaks volumes. it might be crazy for mr. gosar to shrug this off as joke, but it's not only members of congress but women and people of color throughout the country who daily deal with the threat of physical violence. this is no laughing matter. as someone who for decades have had to live with death threats, this is a moment when we need to say enough is enough. hate speech leads to hate violence. death threats lead to death. threats to murder people can lead to criminal charges. this resolution, i tell you, this is the minimum we need to do. it reinforces that this behavior will not be tolerated. so i urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and i yield back. >> gentle lady from indiana.

>> madame speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. jordan, the ranking member of the judiciary committee. >> gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> the fbi is treating parents as terrorists, the department of justice is getting ready to pay people $450,000 who illegally entered our country and democrats in congress later this week plan to spend $2 trillion which we all know will only exacerbate the already 30 year high inflation. and what are they doing today, censuring a member for a cartoon. you got to be kidding me. you have got to be kidding. the attack, what scares me most about all of this is the attack that we have seen on the first amendment over the last from the left, from the democrat party, they're attacking moms for standing up and speaking out at school board meetings. they're stopping americans and there are still places in this country where a full congregation cannot meet on a sunday morning, stopping

americans from exercising their first amendment freedom of religious rights. forever, the speaker of the house stopped americans from a member of congress to address their grievances, wouldn't let them in the capitol. here we go again, censuring speech, the most fundamental liberty is our right to speak, to talk, to communicate, and they're going after that today. because they don't like freedom. you can see it. they don't like it. this is wrong. we know it's wrong. what they're doing to our colleague, mr. gosar is wrong and i hope, i hope they will have second thoughts and we will vote this down. i yield back. >> gentleman from florida. >> i yield a minute 15 to committee member from minnesota. >> gentleman is recognized for 1:15. >> i love freedom, i love george washington, i keep this book on my desk "george washington's rules of civility and decent behavior" i encourage every colleague, keep this on your desk, refer to it.

i have heard everything talked about today, inflation, afghanistan, schools, except the issue we're here for, a censure of a member of congress who issued a despicable video showing the killing of a fellow member of congress. worst of all, most despicable of all, the object of the censure said it was to attract a new generation. think about that. to attract a new generation of americans. we got to do better, my friends. come on. and to my friend from virginia who said if democrats had done this, what would we do, rest assured, my friends, every one of you, we would do the same thing because i will never ever ever allow a fellow member of congress to threaten or distribute a video showing the killing of one of us let alone another american. with that i yield back. >> gentle lady from indiana. madame speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from colorado. >> gentle lady is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madame speaker. democratic policies are so

pathetic and have done so poorly, the left has nothing to do but troll the internet looking for ways to get offended and then try to target members and strip them of their committees. this is a dumb waste of the house's time but since the speaker has designated the floor to discuss members inappropriate actions, shall we. the jihad squad member from minnesota has paid her husband and not her brother husband, the other one, over a million dollars in campaign funds. this member is allowed on the foreign affairs committee while praising terrorists. a democrat chairwoman incited further violence in the streets outside of a courthouse, and then the cherry on top, my colleague and three month presidential candidate from california who is on the intelligence committee slept with fang fang, a chinese spy. let me say that again, a member

of congress who received classified. >> gentle lady's time is expired. gentle lady's time is expired. >> i yield one minute to ethics committee. >> gentle lady is recognized for one minute. >> as maya angelou said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. despite paul gosar's history of dangerous rhetoric, and despite his conduct showing him to be a dangerous extremist, he is still here in congress. now he has depicted himself killing one of our colleagues and the president of the united states. never doubt that leaders' calls for violence can lead to actual violence. we have seen it throughout the world. and we've seen it right here on january 6th. nor should the actions of his taxpayer paid staff in creating

and disseminating this video be ignored. they are grown adults, and they have cultivated a hostile work environment for the subject of this disgusting video and for her stuff. paul gosar has glorified violence against a duly elected official who came here to serve her district. she nor any of us signed up for this kind of abuse. our families should not have to live with the fear that we be subject to violent attacks. >> time has expired. >> paul gosar has shown who he is. believe him, censure him. >> i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. rice. >> gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> thank you, madame speaker, with so many real problems facing americans, created by the biden administration, open borders, soaring gas prices, sky high grocery bills, and our embarrassment in afghanistan, my

friends across the aisle assemble us here today to debate a cartoon. political cartoons routinely depict violence. it's not new. cartoons have depicted violence since there were cartoons. if you don't believe me, google political cartoons, 2021, you'll see a depiction of joe biden killing a republican with a steamroller. a republican elephant trampling voters among many others. now, i'll ask all of you out there to watch the gosar cartoon that is occupying the floor of the united states congress for over an hour today. is it inappropriate, yes. childish, of course. stupid, without question. but is it a threat? absolutely not. now, i know some members may need to seek therapy because they saw this cartoon but is it

a threat? absolutely not. i yield back. >> gentleman from florida. >> yeah, madame speaker, i yield one minute to the assistant speaker, ms. clark. >> gentle lady is recognized for one minute. >> thank you for yielding. it started with a white supremacist online fringe movement and it turned into a deadly january 6th insurrection, and now i stand before you because a member of this body has once again had her life threatened. but this time, by a colleague who posted a video of killing her on his official account. think of that. and it's no coincidence that the recipients of this violence are most often women and women of color because this violence is directly connected to sexism and racism. we cannot and must not accept this behavior. and silence and excuse is condoning it, and the excuses we

have heard today. this is okay because it's highly stylized killing. it's a cartoon. it was some sort of youth outreach, grotesque. enough is enough. vote for this resolution. vote for censure. vote for decency. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> madame speaker, i reserve. >> gentle lady reserves. gentleman from florida. >> madame speaker, i yield one minute to the vice caucus chair mr. aguilar. >> gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i thank the chairman. when an armed mob stormed the capitol earlier this year, they did so under the belief that political violence was an acceptable means to an end. as leaders and as members of this body, every one of us has a responsibility to stand up and to make clear that way of thinking is unacceptable. we have a responsibility here to work together to keep our colleagues, our staff, and all of the people who work in this building safe. that goal becomes more difficult

when members are making open threats of violence on social media. it is not acceptable for a member of the house to insinuate that they want to violently kill a member, and we need to directly respond to this threat. today we have a chance to send a strong unified bipartisan message against this kind of conduct. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the resolution to ensure accountability and recommit ourselves to the safety of every member and the future member of this body, thank you, yield back. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> i reserve. >> gentleman from florida. >> i yield one minute to the chairman of the house democratic caucus, mr. jeffreys. >> i rise in strong support of this censure resolution, inciting violence is unacceptable. threatening to kill a colleague, the president of the united states, or any american is unacceptable. and i rise to make it clear that we have an opportunity today to

choose decency over demonization, to choose civility over cynicism, to choose the rule of law over recklessly violent behavior. that is why the house of representatives is acting and acting decisively. we cannot normalize violence today. we cannot normalize violence tomorrow. we cannot normalize violence at any point moving forward in our future. the house will hold paul gosar accountable for his violent and deplorable behavior, whether the cover up caucus likes it or not. vote yes on this censure resolution. >> gentle lady from indiana. >> madame speaker i reserve. >> gentleman from florida. >> i yield 45 seconds to ms. fernandez. >> gentle lady is recognized 45 seconds. >> madame speaker, serving in public office is and should be a

sacred responsibility, and that responsibility calls upon us to condemn hate when we see it. if we let hate fester and spread, it will destroy us. that's why one in three women have been attacked violently in this country and around the world. but instead of apologizing today, republicans chose to vilify immigrants yet again. when the victim is herself latina, republican the gunman who traveled to el paso to kill mexicans after republican politicians demonized them. scripture says love thy neighbor as thyself, and we must love this institution, it is the love for this institution, love for our fellow members, calling upon us to pass this resolution. >> gentleman from florida. >> i have no further speakers, i'll reserve. >> gentle lady from indiana is recognized to close.

>> thank you. >> i absolutely reject violence, and calls for violence against any member of congress or anyone else. but by rushing this vote to the floor today and ignoring the process the majority is setting a precedent that i fear may not serve this institution well in the future. the majority should withdraw this resolution, and if it chooses pursue this matter properly through law enforcement or the ethics committee. if the resolution is not withdrawn then i'm going to vote no and hope at some point that the ethics committee will once again serve this body as it was intended. i ask my colleagues to vote no and i yield back. >> gentleman from florida. >> madame speaker, none of us want to be here today, revisiting the violent imagery, the vile atread content that representative gosar delighted in demanating over his social

media accounts, material defended over and over again today by our colleagues, had republican leadership acted as it should to hold its own we wouldn't be here. the house cannot ignore representative gosar's conduct as republicans would have us do. january 6th must serve as a reminder of just how important this action is we're about to take. on january 6th, violence stoked by hateful imagery and inflammatory rhetoric over social media found its way to the steps of the united states capitol and the doors of this chamber. on that day, insurrectionists broke windows right near where i stand. capitol police officers drew their weapons, members bravely blocked their entrance. heroes valiantly repelled the attack on our democracy. on this day, with our resolution, let us reject the notion that it is ever acceptable for a member of congress to threaten the safety

of a fellow member to depict the murder of a fellow member. let this resolution serve as an unwavering statement that never in this house should the type of horrific violent imagery be deemed acceptable. madam speaker, i would ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to smash the partisan lens through which they view this behavior and this debate. and i would ask all of my colleagues to support safety and civility and decency by voting for house resolution 789. i yield back the balance of my time. >> pursuant to house resolution 795, the previous question is ordered on the resolution and the preamble is amended. the question now occurs on agreeing to the resolution. all in favor say aye. >> aye! >> opposed, no. >> no. n. the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.

>> madam speaker, i ask for the ayes and nays. >> pursuant to 3s, the yeas and ne nays are ordered and members will record their votes by electronic device. >> okay. we have been listening and watching members of the house of representatives and leadership on both sides make their very vociferous cases for and against the censure of congressman paul gosar for tweeting out that violent animated video of his colleague alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> let's bring in now to discuss cnn senior political analyst john avlon, political commentators s.e. cupp and bakari sellers and david chalian. john, let's start with you, sitting right next to me. we've been waiting for leader mccarthy to say something about this. what we heard from him, i wrote it down here.

rules for thee, but not for me, two dozen times. >> that was a campaign speech by, you know, leader mccarthy, who desperately wanted to make, as his colleagues did, this vote not about the core question, which is, is it okay to threaten a colleague's life? that's the question. that's why gosar is on the verge of being the 24th person censured in the history of the house. there were other arguments about process, about precedent but at core, that's it. and, of course, the context matters after january 6th. the precedent matters. because folks have been censured for everything from charlie rangel over tax and ethical implications to consulting a speaker to attacking a colleague on the floor. at core, all that noise boils down to this. is it all right to threaten the life of a colleague, especially after january 6th. that is what this is about. nothing else. >> s.e., we heard many of the republicans try to make the case

that as we were talking about, there's a double standard and for instance, maxine waters had said something they considered inflammatory but didn't face these repercussions. do you think that that's a good analogy? what do you make of that argument? >> if your argument is that it's hypocritical, you should be arguing for gosar to be censured. and then say, and also maxine waters and we want democrats to apply the same standard. and, therefore, we're going to censure gosar. but it was stunning how hard republicans worked to avoid saying what is simple and takes zero courage which, of course, is that members of congress should not tweet out violent death fantasy videos about other members of congress. period. instead what i think republicans did from kevin mccarthy to lauren boebert on down is give democrats in 2022 a campaign

video. i mean, each one of them standing up there and in some ridiculous, ludicrous way managing to defend despicable video using as john says arguments. one member of congress, congressman biggs even saying he was sort of an expert in anime and don't worry, this is violent but very stylized violence. i mean, it was preposterous. the easy thing would have been to say, absolutely, he shouldn't do it. we shouldn't set this precedent, good-bye. and instead republicans completely unwilling to do that. really gave a lot of material to voters wondering, okay, who -- where is this party now and what do they stand for? this. this is what they stand for. >> david, maybe not for the base there in this district in arizona. we know that potentially a censure for a video like this

could be a badge of honor going after aoc, after the president in this climate in this time, the republican party. >> that's certainly true. what i think we just saw on display, just how sad this is where our politics are right now. this is the united states house of representatives. the people's house where they're supposed to represent the people of their districts and pass legislation to help benefit their lives and the life of the country. and this is where we are. and it was like two totally different planets in how the parties were approaching this issue. it seems like given all the caveats every republican said which is i don't condone violence. if you have to put that up front of your statement then to go on and defend gosar and not want the censure, it seems you're in agreement which is that this was totally an out of bounds, inappropriate thing for a member of congress to do. so what are you going to do about it then because here's

this resolution to censure him. it seems to me that the republicans are still trying to figure out, to s.e.'s point, how to police themselves as a party and present themselves as potentially a majority party come next year in this country to voters. and they've got to figure out the former, sort of how to police themselves before they'll be able to cross that threshold into the latter. it seems these kinds of headaches can be piling up on a potential future speaker mccarthy's desk. >> bakari, we heard congressman paul gosar speak himself. he did not apologize to alexandria ocasio-cortez. he did say he sent that out in order to have an important policy discussion about immigration, as victor pointed out to me while we were watching, why did he put aoc's face in it then, if this is an important immigration discussion? >> because she's a brown face, but i just think that

representative gosar is beneath the dignity of office so i don't want to spend too much time talking about him. what i saw today, it was fascinating. i actually thought the political arguments the republican party were making about, you know, the issues facing the country and we're here debating this particular issue, a cartoon, i thought the arguments they were making, although disingenuous would go over well with the base and individuals who may be in the middle. i thought democrats were making a great argument that this is a narrow issue. and then when lauren boebert got up there, i thought it all just went to hell. watching her speak and watching the tone and tenor, it snapped me back to reality and made me realize and recognize why we're here. boebert and gosar are members of the republican party, period. and the fact that those two cancerous members of the party can go to the well of the united states congress, speaks volumes. that's the issue that kevin

mccarthy and other republicans have to deal with. the fact that they have members who -- i mean in the terms of great south carolinians, just, bless their heart. >> john, on the other end of the spectrum in the party, you some of the moderates who voted to impeach the president. fred upton, one of them saying he goes too far. he would have supported a censure but thought that the committee pool was too much. >> that's right. and i think that's where reasonable republicans can make an argument. not only on free speech or process grounds or ethics committee but what's the precedent about removing people from their committees? this was a clean censure vote, would they have done it differently? leader mccarthy said that basically threaten to remove democrats from their own committees when and if the republicans take power. so that's one of the decisions that may have downstream consequences. at the end of the day, this should be a simple vote. do you support threatening to kill your colleagues? yes or no. >> the slippery slope argument

was a tough one since we're pretty far down that slope. thank you so much for sticking with us and watching all of that. >> we're watching the vote count no. we know there will be several republicans who will vote to support the resolution. they have not yet voted. they have gone on record. we know that congresswoman cheney, congressman kinzinger, two of them. but so far all the yea votes from the democrats. all nay votes there from the republicans. we'll continue to watch the count. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. welcome to "the lead." i'm pamela brown in for jake tapper. breaking news in our politics lead. lawmakers on capitol hill are voting now over a censure resolution for republican congressman paul gosar of arizona after he posted a violent anime video appearing to depict himil