Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Green deliberately disrupted Congress' proceedings during a joint session yesterday.

This was an affront to the Constitution, which commands that the President report to the Congress from time to time. It was an insult to the Presidency, and it was a disgrace to this body.

It was perpetrated not by some lunatic wearing buffalo horns but, rather, by an elected Member of the United States Congress. This is worthy of the harshest sanctions that we can apply.

Mr. Speaker, many Members repeatedly interrupted this Presidential address with catcalls and insults and other gestures of disrespect. A Member once did this to President Obama. He apologized, and he was reprimanded.

I didn't hear an apology from Mr. Green right now. What I heard was deliberate, calculated defiance.

The whole reason for this building to exist and the whole reason for this House Chamber is to exchange our views, sometimes very sharply different views, and talk out the differences among us. In order for that to work, that discussion has to be accompanied by civility and decorum.

Accordingly, our rules insist on that. I believe that all of those who breach these rules need to be held accountable, lest this event become just another sad milestone in the denigration of this institution.

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