Sara Jacobs Introduces Censure Resolution, Calls For Marjorie Taylor Greene To Resign

Speaker 1: 00:00 Congress has monumental issues before it from COVID relief to immigration reform to combat and climate change. But one of the overriding issues at present is the climate within Congress itself. Members are reportedly angry and wary of each other suspicious of how much some members of Congress may have been complicit with the insurrection of January 6th and some in Congress have refused to comply with new metal detectors installed to search for concealed weapons. Much of the concern is now focused on the newly elected representative from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor green, her past support for Q and on and other conspiracy theories and her support on social media for physical violence against fellow politicians has now led to efforts to expel Greene from Congress or to censure her. The censure resolution was co-sponsored by San Diego, Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs, who joins us now and welcome Congresswoman Jacob. Speaker 2: 00:57 Thank you. Great to be here with you. Speaker 1: 01:00 Can you tell us about the censure resolution you've submitted against Congresswoman green? What would it do? Speaker 2: 01:07 So I, uh, submitted this resolution with my colleague Congresswoman Nick Kimo, Williams of Georgia. Uh, and it would formerly censure, uh, Marjorie Taylor green and call for her to resign. Censure is, uh, uh, ability that Congress has to, uh, make sure that we are holding our own members accountable. It's one of the highest levels of that, that we can do. And it's only been done against a number of members throughout the history of Congress. Speaker 1: 01:36 Does it have any practical result of, or to be voted, uh, if it were to be approved? Speaker 2: 01:41 So the censure resolution is something that goes into the history books, uh, forevermore. She is a censured member of Congress. We would need additional resolutions to strip her of committee assignments or to expel her. Speaker 1: 01:54 And why did you take that step as one of your very first acts in Congress? Speaker 2: 01:59 Someone who's worked in conflict settings and political violence around the world. I know how important it is to hold accountable. People who are calling for violence. Uh, we saw what can happen when we don't on January 6th and we've seen throughout history. And so I felt like it was incredibly important that we set down this marker of censure, uh, that this is beyond the realm of normal political disagreements. And this is behavior that is frankly unacceptable. Speaker 1: 02:26 And what are the acts? You feel warrant a vote of censure against Marjorie Taylor green. Speaker 2: 02:31 To me the most agregious are her calling for the execution of president Obama of speaker, Pelosi of secretary Clinton when she liked retweeted. And even herself said things that promoted violence against those elected leaders. To me, that is the most agregious of her activities. Although there are a number of things I think that she has done that are beyond the pale Speaker 1: 02:56 Congresswoman Corey Bush, a Democrat from Missouri has moved her office away from green. She says, it's for her team's safety. Do you think Congresswoman green poses, a physical threat to her colleagues? Speaker 2: 03:09 You know, it's, it's really hard to say she clearly does in the sense that she refuses to wear a mask. I have been in many spaces with her where she refuses to put her mask on, even when we have elderly or immunocompromised fellow colleagues who are in the room with us. And it's clear that she believes in violence as a way to resolve her political disagreements. I think we here in California know what can happen when you have members of a group like this. Like we saw in San Francisco with Harvey milk who was murdered by a fellow supervisor. And so I think while I don't feel like there's an imminent threat to my life right now from her, it's clear that she does not care about the lives of her colleagues shown by her and her unwillingness to wear a mask, her unwillingness, to go through the metal detectors. And I think it's a perfectly acceptable thing for Congresswoman Bush to decide that it's, that she wants to move her office. Speaker 1: 04:05 Is the atmosphere like in Congress now? Is it tense? Speaker 2: 04:09 There's certainly some tension. Uh, and obviously there's still a lot of security up and around the facility. Although I will say I was at the inauguration and I was sitting with a bipartisan group of members and it was clear that lot of us are really ready to turn the page and to get back to the work of the American people. I believe we can't do that until we hold people accountable who incited encouraged or committed acts of violence. Um, but there is actually a lot more, excuse me, a lot more comradery and friendship among the members than you would think. And honestly, one of the things that was most exciting after the attack happened, we really saw our other colleagues check in on each other, look after each other, really pull together in a way that was really heartening to me Speaker 1: 04:56 In that spirit of bipartisanship. Do you expect to get any Republican support for the effort to send your green? Speaker 2: 05:02 I know there are a number of Republican members who don't agree with her and think that she gets a bad name to their party. And I'm hopeful that when it comes time to it, they will step up and make those positions known and do the right thing. Speaker 1: 05:16 House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy is expected to have a meeting with Marjorie Taylor green this week to see if she should be reprimanded in any way. Do you expect anything to come out of that meeting? Speaker 2: 05:28 I'm hopeful that he will take her off of her committees and will reprimand her. Um, but I got to say, I don't have a lot of faith in, uh, Congressman McCarthy at the moment. Speaker 1: 05:38 When will your censure resolution be up for a vote? Speaker 2: 05:41 Uh, we're not sure. We're still learning the calendar for the upcoming votes it's, uh, introduced today and will likely come up for a vote sometime soon. Speaker 1: 05:51 And would it take a simple majority to pass Speaker 2: 05:54 That's right. Censure only requires a simple majority pass, uh, to expel Congressman green would require a two-thirds majority. And so we feel like there's a really good chance that we can get this censure passed and have that formally on the record. Speaker 1: 06:08 Okay. Then I've been speaking with San Diego Congresswoman Sarah Jacobson, Congresswoman Jacobs. Thanks. A lot of course.