Green’s House rebuke
Plus: House Dems warn of state-level impact of proposed Medicaid cuts and over 100,000 people join Hakeem Jeffries on DNC virtual town hall.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! The government shuts down in nine days. House Republican leadership is expected to release the text of a plan this weekend to fund the government through the end of September. Keep reading for what else is worth knowing from the Hill tonight before you call it a night—straight from my notebook to your inbox.
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Green’s House rebuke
The House moved to formally rebuke Rep. Al Green after the Texas Democrat was removed from the House chamber during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday after interrupting the speech.
The final vote was 224–198 with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in support of the measure.
Allow me to explain: The adoption of congressional censure resolutions used to come a dime a dozen.
In less-polarized times, they were reserved for the most egregious misconduct that warranted a form of disciplinary action just short of expulsion.
However, in recent years, censure has become a tool for members to register disapproval of political opponents rather than just a tool for policing ethical misconduct.
What they’re saying: “Republicans are playing political and partisan games with their censure resolution because they are on the run,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told me after the vote. “And folks are taking notice all across the country.”
Green maintained that he understood his interruption would come with consequences.
“I’ll accept the punishment,” he said. “It’s worth it to let people know that there’s some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called Green’s behavior “shameful” and “egregious.”
“Any Democrat who is concerned about regaining the trust and respect of the American people should join House Republicans in this effort.”
Looking ahead: House conservatives said they would introduce another resolution to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee.
Following his removal from the speech, Green announced he was drafting new articles of impeachment against President Trump.
“This president is unfit,” Green, who introduced articles of impeachment on multiple occasions. “He should not hold the office.”
Read all about it: The two-page censure resolution … My full recap in Politics & Policy
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House Dems warn of state-level impact of proposed Medicaid cuts
House Democrats hosted a hearing this morning to warn about the impact of Republican-proposed Medicaid cuts on states that rely on federal funding to provide essential healthcare services.
Witnesses at the hearing testified that seniors and new moms would be among those most adversely affected by the cuts since Medicaid funds many nursing homes and childbirths.
Allow me to explain: The event was the latest in a concerted effort by congressional Democrats to galvanize support against GOP plans to fund a multi-trillion-dollar extension to the 2017 Trump tax cuts by slashing the social safety net.
The budget proposal House Republicans passed last week instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion from programs under its jurisdiction.
Republicans maintain that their proposal doesn’t explicitly put Medicaid on the chopping block.
But an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says House E&C manages $581 billion in non-Medicaid and -Medicare funding, hundreds of billions of dollars short of the budget target.
What they’re saying: “At the end of the day, states will be left with three options to address holes in their budgets,” Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), the top House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrat, said this morning. “Cut people off Medicaid, cut people’s benefits, or cut payment rates to providers, knowing it will close hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers.
Looking ahead: House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) told former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) during an interview that his goal is for Hill Republicans to send the tax, border and defense bill to Trump’s desk by Memorial Day.
ICYMI:“Dems find footing by defending Medicaid”
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100,000+ join Hakeem Jeffries on DNC virtual town hall
Hakeem Jeffries told me more than 15,000 people attended a virtual town hall hosted by the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday night. His campaign later released a statement announcing over 100,000 people tuned in, including sign-ups from all 50 states
Allow me to explain: Jeffries and several members from the House Democratic Caucus answered questions about how they planned to protect veterans’ benefits, address the housing crisis, reach voters on nontraditional media and keep the Trump administration and Elon Musk in check.
The top House Democrat was joined by:
House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse (D-Colo.)
House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Co-Chair Lori Trahan (Mass.)
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (N.M.)
New Democrat Coalition Vice Chair for Policy Nikki Budzinski (Ill.)
Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.)
New Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin opened and closed the meeting with remarks about participating in the political process year-round, not just during peak election season.
The event was part of the party’s response to grassroots and online pressure from anxious Democrats in search for a national face of the party and political strategy that can unify the base inspire a broadening collects.
In his own words: “We’re going to continue that level of engagement in every way possible—every day, every week, every month, this year, next year—and then put it in the hands of the American people in 2026,” Jeffries said.
The leader added that the talent of the House Democratic Caucus was on full display in a trademark example of Jeffries turning the spotlight from him to his members.
“Everybody’s engaged, everybody’s all-in, everybody’s pushing back,” he said. “And I think the American people got to see that yesterday at the DNC Town Hall, and we’ll continue to see that moving forward.”
Looking ahead: Martin said as the DNC works to help Democrats when back the majority, the committee is also focused on recruiting quality candidates to run for the 100,000 local races currently on the ballot. (In the last midterms, Martin said 70 percent of all elections went uncontested, and Democrats were three times as likely not to run a candidate.
“We have to break the Republican control at the local and state level,” he added. “We’ve given too much ground in state legislatures, county offices, local councils, school boards, mayoral and more.”
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