A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Texas Democrat Al Green is the 28th lawmaker ever to be censured by the House.
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MIKE JOHNSON: On this vote, the yeas are 224. The nays are 198.
MARTÍNEZ: Some of Green's fellow Democrats voted alongside Republicans yesterday to rebuke Green. He says, though, he has no regrets. Here's NPR Congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt.
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: It all started during President Trump's address earlier this week to a joint session of Congress. Congressman Al Green stood up, waved his walking stick, and shouted at the president that he doesn't have a mandate. He was warned by the speaker of the House to stop.
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AL GREEN: He has no mandate.
JOHNSON: Take your seat.
SPRUNT: But Green didn't stop.
JOHNSON: The chair now directs the sergeant-at-arms to restore order.
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JOHNSON: Remove this gentleman from the chamber.
SPRUNT: Republicans readied a censure resolution, a formal rebuke for violating the chamber's code of conduct. Washington Republican Dan Newhouse introduced the resolution, saying it's a matter of decorum.
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DAN NEWHOUSE: We must, as members of this institution, make sure our emotions do not take over and conduct ourselves in a way that all of us, not just here in this room but across the country, can be proud.
SPRUNT: But Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern said they didn't have those objections when it was Republican members interrupting a Democratic president.
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JIM MCGOVERN: I appreciate your selective outrage, but you'd have more credibility had you expressed outrage when your colleagues were heckling Joe Biden.
SPRUNT: Green himself said he was speaking up for his constituents and would do it again.
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GREEN: There comes a time when you cannot allow the president's incivility to take advantage of our civility.
SPRUNT: When it came time to vote, 10 of Green's fellow Democrats sided with Republicans, but many others in his party gathered around Green in the well of the chamber, singing "We Shall Overcome."
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UNIDENTIFIED LAWMAKERS: (Singing) Oh, deep in my heart.
SPRUNT: A sign Democrats remain split in how to push back against the Trump administration as the opposition party. Some argue bold moves like Green's are a sign of strength and show constituents they're doing something. But others say they put the spotlight on themselves rather than the policies they're trying to fight against.
Barbara Sprunt, NPR News, the Capitol.
(SOUNDBITE OF NICK DRAKE SONG, "ROAD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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