Along party lines, the House delivered an unprecedented official rebuke yesterday to one of its members for shouting, “You lie!” during President Obama’s televised health-care speech.
The 240-to-179 vote said the House “disapproves” of Rep. Joe Wilson’s “breach of decorum” and said the South Carolina Republican had “degraded the proceedings” and brought “discredit” to the body.
It was the first time in the 220-year history of the House that a member was admonished for speaking out while the president was giving an address before a joint session of Congress.
Wilson apologized to the White House after his outburst, but said yesterday there were “far more important issues” confronting the nation.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said failing to condemn Wilson would encourage anti-Obama street protests, which they called racist and likened to the Ku Klux Klan.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) warned of “people putting on white hoods, white uniforms again . . . if this kind of attitude is not rebuked.”