The year 2025 will be remembered in the annals of the United States House of Representatives not just for a record-breaking government shutdown, but for an extraordinary wave of internal disciplinary actions. Lawmakers spent much of the year locked in a cycle of recrimination, attempting to formally censure one another at an unprecedented rate.
A Record-Breaking Year of Recrimination
Official records show at least 17 separate attempts to censure or formally disapprove of fellow representatives since January 2025. This flurry of activity grew so intense that by year's end, a bipartisan group proposed rule changes to make passing censures more difficult. Republican Don Bacon, a sponsor of the bill, summed up the mood by asking, "How about we stop the circular firing squad in the House?"
A censure, the chamber's formal mechanism for discipline, requires a simple majority to pass. The punished member must stand before the House to hear the speaker condemn their behaviour, but they retain their seat and voting rights. The consequence is primarily reputational. Despite the high number of attempts, only one censure resolution succeeded in passing throughout the entire year.
Key Flashpoints in the Censure Wave
The alleged misdeeds that sparked these disciplinary efforts were varied and deeply partisan:
Confronting the President: In early March, following Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress, Democrat Al Green interrupted, brandishing a walking cane and shouting "he has no mandate." He was forcibly removed. Days later, the House passed a censure resolution against him, with ten Democrats joining all Republicans in favour. This remains the only successful censure of 2025.
Insults and Allegations of Racism: The fallout was immediate. Republican Lauren Boebert faced a censure attempt for describing Green's cane as a "pimp cane," language Democrats called racist. Elsewhere, Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles was targeted for calling NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani "little muhammad" and labelling Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a "Discount Dollar Store Obama."
High-Profile Targets: The year's first attempt came in February, when Republican Nancy Mace sought to censure Democrat Robert Garcia for inciting violence against Elon Musk, citing Garcia calling Musk a "dick" and urging Democrats to "bring actual weapons to this bar fight." Later, Mace also targeted Democrat Ilhan Omar for comments made after the murder of activist Charlie Kirk.
Cross-Party Alliances and Backroom Deals
A notable feature of the year was the emergence of small, cross-party coalitions that repeatedly thwarted censure votes. Efforts to censure New Jersey Democrat LaMonica McIver (arrested after an altercation at an ICE facility) and Ilhan Omar both failed when handfuls of Republicans broke ranks to vote with Democrats.
The drama peaked in November. A resolution disapproving of Democrat Chuy Garcia for allegedly "undermining the process of a free and fair election" related to his retirement passed with Republican support. Simultaneously, a Republican move to censure Democrat Stacey Plaskett over revealed texts with Jeffrey Epstein failed, again due to GOP defections.
This led to allegations of backroom deals. Florida Republican Cory Mills was the subject of three censure resolutions alleging abuse and misconduct. When a motion against him was sidelined with Democratic help, some Republican women accused leaders of protecting Mills in exchange for votes against censuring Plaskett. "This backroom deal shit is swampy, wrong and always deserves to be called out," said Florida Republican Kat Cammack.
The year 2025 ultimately exposed a House of Representatives deeply divided, yet occasionally capable of pragmatic, if controversial, alliances to curb its own internal strife. The record number of censure attempts stands as a stark symbol of the era's political acrimony.
