Rep. Al Green Ejected From House for Heckling Trump During Speech to Congress

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Green should be censured by the House over his actions.

Rep. Al Green shouts as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 4, 2025. Win McNamee/AP

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) was removed from the House chamber on Tuesday night after disrupting President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress.

Green rose to speak and shook his cane toward the president about four minutes into the speech, but his words were quickly drowned out by chants of “USA! USA!” from Republican lawmakers.

Amid the commotion, Trump attempted to continue before House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) interjected, banging the gavel and reading the House rules aloud.

“Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions. That’s your warning,” Johnson told Green. “Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum and the chair is prepared to direct a sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session.”

Lawmakers rose to their feet in applause. Johnson then directed Green to take his seat.

The congressman remained standing before shouting to Trump “you have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”

That prompted Johnson to summon the sergeant at arms to restore order and remove him.

As Green was escorted out of the chamber, he continued to shake his cane at Trump while lawmakers chanted “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye.”

Once Green was removed, Johnson reminded lawmakers that they must uphold and maintain decorum in the House. He then asked Trump to continue his address, and the president carried on speaking.

Johnson said afterward that Green should be censured by the House.

“He made history in a terrible way, and I hope he enjoys it,” Johnson told reporters. “If they want to make a 77-year-old heckling congressman the face of their resistance, if that’s the Democrat Party, so be it but we will not tolerate it on the House floor.”

Green Says Expulsion ‘Worth It’

Green said he had no regrets about his public protest and is willing to accept any punishment resulting from his actions in the House.

Speaking to reporters after being removed, the Democrat said: “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president.”

“The president was saying he had a mandate, and I was making it clear that he has no mandate to cut Medicaid,” he said of his comments during Trump’s speech.

Medicaid is the health care program used by 80 million Americans.

Green said many of the constituents in his Houston-area district rely on Medicaid as their only source of health care coverage and are “fearful” about the “deep cuts” to the program that may potentially be made under the House GOP budget, which calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in spending cuts.

Johnson and GOP leadership have insisted any cuts to the Medicaid program would only be made to root out fraud and corruption.

Rep. Al Green shouts as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 4, 2025. Win McNamee/AP

Green also warned against cuts to Medicare, the program for seniors, and the Social Security retirement program.

“This is about the people being punished by virtue of losing their health care,” Green said. “This is the richest country in the world and health care is about to become wealth care, and we can’t let that happen.”

Green, who called for the impeachment of Trump during his first term in office, also has said he is working on new articles of impeachment against the president.

Green is among several lawmakers who have raised their voices to shout at presidents in past years, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who heckled President Joe Biden during his 2023 State of the Union address.

During Trump’s first term, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) silently ripped up the president’s speech on the dais, once he had finished delivering it.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

Joseph Lord and The Associated Press contributed to this report.