Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had a terse reaction on Thursday to GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) heckling President Biden during his State of the Union address on Tuesday: “I think they should just shut up.”
Pelosi didn’t say if she thinks there ought to be any formal sanction by the House to rebuke the two far-right lawmakers for their breaches of decorum when a reporter asked whether action should be taken.
She instead cited the apparent reaction from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at the time.
“Let me just say this. I agree with what Sen. Lindsey Graham said: ‘Shut up.’ That’s what he said to them. I think they should just shut up,” Pelosi said at a press conference in the Capitol.
During Biden’s speech on Tuesday night, Boebert drew gasps from fellow lawmakers when she yelled out that he put U.S. service members in coffins — “13 of them” — in a reference to those who died in a bomb attack during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan over the summer.
Biden had been discussing the scourge of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including his own late son, Beau Biden.
“A cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin,” he said.
“You put them in, 13 of them!” Boebert yelled out.
Boebert and Greene also repeatedly chanted “Build the Wall!” as Biden discussed border security.
Boebert has remained defiant since her outburst.
“When Biden said flag draped coffins I couldn’t stay silent. I told him directly he did it. He put 13 in there. Our heroic servicemen and women deserve so much better,” Boebert tweeted after the Tuesday night speech.
By contrast, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) apologized shortly after he yelled out “You lie!” during a speech by then-President Obama to a joint session of Congress in 2009.
“This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill,” Wilson said in a statement at the time. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”
In addition to Wilson’s apology, the House also passed a resolution to formally rebuke him for his outburst.
The resolution stated that “the conduct of the Representative from South Carolina was a breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.
While Republicans have largely declined to criticize Boebert for her outburst, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that he thinks “civil behavior is a good idea in Congress.”
“We act that way in the Senate. I don’t normally give the House advice. But it seems to me, a respectful response to the State of the Union would be the norm,” McConnell said during a Fox News Radio interview on Wednesday.