Jamaal Bowman Thunders at Republicans on House Floor: ‘You Had a Member of Your Party Call My Colleague a Terrorist!’

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) gave a barn burner of a speech on Tuesday during the floor debate about whether or not to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over her controversial rhetoric surrounding the Israel-Hamas War.

The resolution to censure Tlaib is the House’s second attempt in recent days after the first one authored by hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) failed to win enough GOP votes to pass. The new resolution from Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) doesn’t include the flame-throwing rhetoric that Greene’s text did, likening a pro-Palestinian protest to an insurrection.

McCormick’s resolution moves to censure Tlaib for “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

“It is a sad fact, but this type of anti-semitic hate is being promoted by a small group of members in this body, chiefly Rep. Tlaib,” McCormick said during his floor speech. “We must hold her accountable.”

Bowman took aim at the GOP members and accused them of lacking diversity. “This body needs empathy and compassion for all people, not just people that look like the majority of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. And maybe because of your lack of diversity, you lack the cognitive and emotional ability to recognize diverse opinions when they speak truth to power,” Bowman said raising his voice.

“And you absolutely need to open up your mind to other people and other experiences, especially when they are Muslim and when they are women and when they are people of color,” he added as the chair told him his time had expired.

“You had a member of your party call my colleague a terrorist and you didn’t censor her [sic]! But we are having this conversation now about your interpretation of words!” Bowman boomed as the chair spoke.

Bowman appeared to be referring to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) who sparked controversy in November 2021 by suggesting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is somehow a terrorist.

“What’s happening? I look to my left and there she is, Ilhan Omar, and I said, ‘Well she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine,’” Boebert said in a viral clip.

“So we only had one floor to go and I say, do I say it or do I not? And I look over and I say, ‘Look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.’ Don’t worry, it’s just her staffers on Twitter that talk for her. She’s not tough in person,” Boebert added. The Colorado congresswoman later apologized to Omar and “ anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment.”

The resolution to censure Tlaib survived a motion to table on Tuesday and will likely be voted on Wednesday. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told CNN Monday he supports censuring Tlaib over “misinformation on the hospital bombing, which obviously we know was not true, that she continued to spread even after intelligence came out, that wasn’t true. And on ‘from the river to the sea’” referring to Tlaib defending the use of a phrase considered by many to be a call for the destruction of Israel.

Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN.

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