HOUSTON, United States
The US House of Representatives late Wednesday declined to censure Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar over comments she made about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, according to multiple media outlets.
The 214-213 vote to not punish Omar was made possible in the Republican-controlled House with the votes of four Republican Congressmen: Reps. Cory Mills of Florida, Jeff Hurd of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California, and Mike Flood of Nebraska.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina drafted the resolution to censure Omar and have her removed from both the Education and Workforce and Budget committees.
Omar and Mace have sparred on social media about political commentary related to Kirk's death, with the latest feud escalating after Omar reposted another user’s social media video last Friday, calling Kirk a "reprehensible human being" and criticizing the Republican Party's reaction to his death.
"Don’t be fooled; these people don’t give a single s*** about Charlie Kirk; they are just using his death to further their Christo-fascist agenda," the video said.
In opposing the measure to censure Omar, McClintock said her comments were "disgusting and hateful" but that they did not break House rules and were protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
"Censure is formal punishment by the House, and we have already gone too far down this road," said McClintock, as Mills and Hurd also cited free-speech concerns in their votes opposing Omar's censure.
Flood said the matter should be reviewed by the House Ethics Committee before a censure vote.
Omar said Mace was pushing a false narrative about her to raise money "and boost her run for governor" in the state of South Carolina.
"Is this what civility looks like in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives?" said Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
"We live in an era of intense political violence, as we have seen with the recent assassinations of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk," Jeffries continued, referring to the shooting of lawmakers in Minnesota as well as Kirk's killing.
More recently, the House appears to have been scaling back its efforts on both sides to censure lawmakers, with Congress previously rejecting a resolution to censure Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey and remove her from a committee assignment. McIver faces federal charges stemming from a visit to an immigration detention facility.
Censure, a formal statement of deep disapproval, was rarely employed in the past, but it has become more widely used in recent years to punish lawmakers of the minority party. The defeat of Omar's censure effort comes after a failed effort to sanction McIver earlier this month, indicating that some Republicans see the efforts as inappropriate.