The vice president is making a last-minute trip to Tennessee on Friday, hours after the Republican-controlled House expelled two Democratic lawmakers.
The visit comes after President Biden calling the expulsions"shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent."
"Rather than debating the merits of the issue [of gun control], these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee," Mr. Biden said in a Thursday statement. The oustings of Jones and Pearson, who are both Black, drew accusations of racism. Johnson, who is White, was allowed to continue to serve in the chamber. Republican leadership denied that race was a factor.
GOP leaders said Thursday's actions — used only a handful times since the Civil War — were necessary to avoid setting a precedent that lawmakers' disruptions of House proceedings through protest would be tolerated.Most state legislatures retain the power to expel members, but it is generally a rarely used punishment for lawmakers accused of serious misconduct.
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One Tennessee Republican votes against expelling Democrat Justin JonesJones was expelled from the state House one week after taking part in a gun control protest. Fellow Democrats Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson could be next.
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Republican-led Tennessee house expels two Black Democrats over gun protestRepublicans deny accusations of racism after Tennessee House expelled two Black Democratic lawmakers from the legislature over gun control protests while a third Democrat — white — was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin
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Tennessee House set to expel 3 Dems for leading gun control protestsTennessee’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives was expected to vote Thursday to expel three Democratic lawmakers for leading gun control protests that spilled into the state Capit…
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Tennessee Legislature Set to Expel Three Democrats for ‘Disorderly Behavior’ During Gun-Control ProtestTennessee’s House of Representatives is set to expel three Democrats, a rare punishment after they spoke out of turn on the House floor following last week’s mass shooting at a Nashville school
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