Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
House condemns white supremacy
Legislators voted to condemn white nationalism and white supremacy after a lawmaker’s comments.
WASHINGTON — The House voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to condemn white nationalism and white supremacy, a measure prompted by the comments of Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who openly questioned why those terms had become offensive.
Having been stripped of his committee assignments Monday and facing further reproach, King went to the House floor Tuesday to say that he would support the resolution while continuing to protest that he had been misquoted in The New York Times article.
“There is no tape for this interview I did. There’s no way to go back and listen,” he said, conceding that he might have said the quoted words but challenging how they have been interpreted. “That ideology never showed up in my head. I don’t know how it would have come out of my mouth.”
The resolution, introduced by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, DS.C., mentions King’s remarks in its preamble, but the measure does not directly rebuke King himself. It passed 424-1, with Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., voting no because he favors a censure of King.
Clyburn, the highestranking African-American congressional leader, called white nationalism and white supremacy “clear and present dangers to our great Republic,” in floor remarks Tuesday.
“When elected representatives give cover and comfort to those who spread racial divisiveness, we embolden those on the fringes on our society, and we have seen some of the results,” he said citing the hate-motivated murders of black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., and synagogue attendees in Pittsburgh.
King sat apart from his colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle as Clyburn spoke. Moments later, King rose, made the sign of the cross, and descended into the well of the House to give his remarks.
King said he came from a family of abolitionists, before ultimately calling on his colleagues to support a measure that is intended to serve as a serious admonition against him.
“All men and all women are created equal,” he said. “It is in my heart, it is in my soul, and it is in my works.”
But those words came too late for his own Republican colleagues, not to mention scores of Democrats who are ready to pursue more serious actions against King, including censure — the most serious House sanction short of expulsion.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, called Tuesday for King to “find another line of work,” a day after GOP leaders moved to punish King by stripping him of his committee assignments and King earned a rebuke from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., condemned King’s comments but stopped short of calling for his resignation.
“I think that’s up to Steve King,” he said.
Some Democrats are pressing for further punishment. Two Democrats have filed censure resolutions that are set to see floor action by Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, DMd., praised Republican leaders for their action but left open the possibility that he would vote for a censure resolution.
Hoyer exploded when asked how King’s behavior compared to the last House member to be censured, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
King’s conduct, he said, “far exceeds” Rangel’s actions, which included improperly using his office to solicit funds and failing to pay taxes on a vacation home. Hoyer served as majority leader during Rangel’s 2010 ethics proceedings and pushed to reprimand Rangel, a lesser punishment than censure.
“What King is doing and what others have done is to encourage the undermining of the basic principles of our country,” he said.