House weighs censure efforts against Marjorie Taylor Greene over rhetoric

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., speaks on Capitol Hill, Feb. 1, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel, File)

The House is expected on Wednesday to consider resolutions that would punish two of its most polarizing members, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, in a partisan tit-for-tat over inflammatory rhetoric.

The resolutions would deliver the punishment of censure, one step below expulsion from the House, to both lawmakers. Votes on the measures will be among the House’s first acts of business after a nearly monthlong gridlock caused by the removal of Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker. It’s unclear whether the resolutions will pass.

The votes reflect the growing divisiveness of the House, where severe forms of punishment that had long been viewed as an option of last resort, to be triggered only for the most egregious wrongdoing, are quickly becoming routine, often wielded in strikingly partisan ways. While the censure itself carries no practical effect, it leaves a historic footnote that marks a lawmaker’s career.