President Joe Biden slammed House Republicans in Tennessee on Thursday for pushing to expel three Democratic lawmakers who joined a protest for gun control on the House floor last week after a deadly school shooting in Nashville left six people dead, including three 9-year-olds.
“Last week, three more students and three school officials were gunned down in yet another tragic mass shooting in Nashville. On Monday, 7,000 Tennesseans, many of them students, marched to their state capitol to call on their lawmakers to take action and keep them safe,” Biden said in a statement.
“Instead, state Republican lawmakers called votes today to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families and helped lift their voices,” Biden continued. “Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
During the protest Democratic Reps. Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson led a chant of “power to the people” from the House floor. Republicans accused them of breaking House rules on conduct and decorum and stripped them of their committees.
On Thursday, Republicans voted 72-25 to expel Jones and 69-26 to expel Pearson. The resolution to expel Johnson failed by one vote, 65 to 30.
