House holds off efforts to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rashida Tlaib after political tit-for-tat

WASHINGTON — Just days after electing a speaker and getting back to work, the House on Wednesday rejected a push to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Democrats dropped a plan to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Twenty-three Republicans joined Democratic lawmakers in voting to "table" the resolution targeting Tlaib, effectively blocking the effort. After, Democrats opted to hold off on the push to punish Greene.

Greene filed the resolution to censure Tlaib last week over her remarks on the Israel-Hamas war. The Georgia lawmaker accused Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member in the House, of inciting a “pro-Hamas insurrection at the Capitol complex,” in a letter to other House members urging them to support her resolution.

But Rep. Becca Balint, R-Vt., responded in kind on behalf of House Democrats, filing her own censure resolution against Greene over her past statements in support of fringe conspiracy theories.

Earlier this month, hundreds of protestors occupied a House office building, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Tlaib did not participate in the protest near Capitol grounds, but she delivered remarks to the protestors, who were organized by a progressive Jewish group, outside the Capitol complex that day.

Capitol office buildings are open to the public, but demonstrations are not allowed in the buildings. Over 300 protestors were arrested over the event.

Tlaib slammed the resolution to censure her as “unhinged” and “deeply Islamophobic,” defending the protest and reiterating her call for a cease-fire in the war.

“I will not be bullied, I will not be dehumanized, and I will not be silenced. I will continue to call for a ceasefire, for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, for the release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to be brought home,” Tlaib said in a statement.

House Democrats were expected to fall behind Tlaib. Balint’s resolution, which she also filed on Thursday, took aim at the Georgia conservative’s past false remarks. Those include comments in support of conspiracy theories that dispute the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, claim the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was staged and more.

“This woman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, it seems to be her only purpose is to sic Americans after other Americans,” an impassioned Balint told reporters on the Capitol steps last week. “To fan more hatred, to fan more dissension and fear mongering. We have got to have a bottom here.”

“There (have) been no consequences,” Balint added.

Greene and Balint both introduced their resolutions as "privileged." Privileged resolutions must be held for a floor vote in the House within two legislative days of being introduced.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rashida Tlaib not censured in the House