What lawmaker said before heckling caused him to be thrown out from Trump's speech to Congress
Democrat politician Al Green has explained why he interrupted Trump's Congress speech yesterday, which led to him being thrown out of the chamber.
After months of campaigning, the 78-year-old Republican was crowned victor in the November 2024 Presidential Election, defeating the Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
On January 20, Trump was sworn in for his second term as leader of the United States, and immediately signed executive orders to rename the Gulf of Mexico, pause US foreign aid for 90 days, and dozens more affecting immigration and climate change.
He also repealed a handful of former president Joe Biden’s actions, and has recently endorsed a House Republican floating a menu of options, including cutting ‘a few trillion dollars’ from Medicaid, writes CNN.
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Medicaid is a state-federal partnership that is jointly funded by the US and the federal government to assist states in providing insurance to people with a low income.
The government program serves more than 83 million low-income people in the country who meet certain criteria.
Despite the outlined budget cuts, Trump has previously announced Republicans ‘wouldn’t touch’ Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security, and would instead be ‘looking for fraud’.
On Tuesday (March 4), Trump called his November 5 Presidential Election victory a ‘mandate like has not been seen in many decades’ during a joint address to Congress.
In response, Democrat congressman Al Green stood up, pointed his cane at the dais, and interrupted Trump's speech.
“Mr President, you don't have a mandate!" said Green, who has served in Congress since 2005.
He clarified to reporters afterwards that he believes Trump 'has no mandate to cut Medicaid' and was preparing articles to impeach him, the BBC reports.
The 77-year-old, who was previously the justice of the peace of Harris County, Texas, from 1977 to 2004, was immediately drowned out from Republicans chanting ‘U-S-A’ before being escorted from the room by The Sergeant at Arms.
You can watch the moment here:
The move came after House Speaker Mike Johnson, 53, issued an order to decorum, reports NBC Chicago.
“Mr. Green, take your seat," he instructed. "Take your seat, sir, take your seat.”
After the Texan continued his protesting, Johnson ruled: "Members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum. The Chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order.”
Speaking about the moment to the press, Green said: "I was making it clear to the President that he has no mandate to cut Medicaid.”
"This is the richest country in the world, and we have people who don't have good health care. We've got to do better and now we're about to cut Medicaid, which is for [the] poor," he said, as per BBC.
C-SPAN reports that Green continued to rally for Medicaid, saying: “I have people who are very fearful. These are poor people.
"And they have only Medicaid in their lives when it comes to their health care.
"I want [Trump] to know that his budget calls for deep cuts in Medicaid. He needs to save Medicaid and protect it. We need to raise the cap on social security."
Following Green’s exit, Trump used the joint address to reference ongoing talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 47, whom he held a disastrous meeting with last week (February 28).
The pair, who met in the Oval Office to discuss the Ukraine-Russia war and to take part in a joint press conference, were embroiled in a heated debate, resulting in Trump claiming he was ‘gambling with World War III’.
The press conference was cancelled, with Zelenskyy reportedly being taken to another room and asked to leave the White House.
During the meeting with Congress in Washington, the 47th president of the United States read aloud a letter he’d received from the politician.
“Earlier today I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,” he began.
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible. To bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians, he said.”
The former businessman went on to say that Zelenskyy ‘valued’ working with the US and that there had been ‘serious discussions’ with Russia regarding peace talks.
However, it wasn’t stipulated whether these conversations were recent, nor whether Trump himself was involved in the discussions.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Health, Money
Ella Scott