Washington: Tensions rode high during a US House Committee meeting when Republican and Democrat lawmakers traded insults at each other, using personal attacks, body shaming remarks and IQ comments, while discussing a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. The tense standoff began when a Republican lawmaker commented on another's "fake eyelashes".
Republicans in the US House of Representatives tried to hold the US Attorney General in contempt for refusing to release tapes of interviews between President Joe Biden and the special counsel Robert Hur. However, things went wrong when Republican lawmaker Majorie Taylor Greene dragged the issue to former President Donald Trump's ongoing hush money trial, according to the Guardian.
In reply, Democrat Representative from Texas, Jasmine Crockett, asked what this has to do with Merrick Garland. In response, Greene said, "I don’t think you know what you’re here for … I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Greene's remarks prompted an angry response from Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said, "I would like to take down Miss Greene's words. That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?" Greene further inflamed tensions by questioning Ocasio-Cortez's intelligence and refused to apologise.
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"Are your feelings hurt?... Aw," said the Republican lawmaker. "Oh girl, baby girl. Don’t even play," said Ocasio-Cortez. Greene then challenged Ocasio-Cortez to debate her, to which the latter replied, "I think it's pretty self-evident." Greene responded: "Yeah, you don't have enough intelligence."
Amid calls for Greene's comments to be taken down, Committee Chairman James Comer later ruled Greene’s comments did not violate House rules, prompting further disputes. Greene agreed to strike her comments toward Crockett but vehemently refused to apologize for the evening's attacks, declaring, “You will never get an apology out of me.”
"I'm just curious. Just to better understand your ruling. If someone on this committee, then starts talking about somebody's bleach blond, bad built, butch body that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?" said Crockett. Comer said, “A what now? … I have no idea what you just said.”
After Comer agreed to strike Greene’s insult of Ocasio-Cortez, Democrats sought to enforce committee rules that would have prevented Greene from speaking for the rest of the hearing. Republicans voted to allow her to speak, NBC reported. After a short recess, Comer reminded members to observe "the House's standard of decorum."
The House Committee eventually returned to debating the contempt resolution against Garland, which passed 24-20 along party lines. The resolution's fate in the full House remains undecided. Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday, said he is disappointed in the chaos and name-calling that happened.
(with inputs from agencies)
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