Censuring Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and removing her from the Committee on Education and Workforce and the Committee on the Budget.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of Rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House.

The form of the resolution is as follows:

H. Res. 713, censuring Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and removing her from the Committee on Education and Workforce and the Committee on the Budget.

Whereas Charlie Kirk was a lifelong advocate for freedom of speech, civil political discourse, and the political engagement of youth;

Whereas Charlie Kirk was a man of deep faith, a husband, and a father to two young children;

Whereas on September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University while exercising his First Amendment right to freedom of speech;

Whereas on September 11, 2025, one day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Representative Ilhan Omar gave an interview on a Zeteo Town Hall with Mehdi Hasan in which she smeared Charlie Kirk and implied he was to blame for his own murder;

Whereas on September 12, 2025, two days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Representative Ilhan Omar reposted a video on X (formerly known as Twitter), which disparaged the character of Charlie Kirk and those mourning his death;

Whereas the video Representative Ilhan Omar reposted on X states ``Charlie Kirk is dead, and before the body got cold, the far-Right propped his corpse up as a cudgel for their holy war'';

Whereas the video Representative Ilhan Omar reposted on X further states ``Don't be fooled, these people don't give a single shit about Charlie Kirk, they are just using his death to further their Christofascist agenda'';

Whereas the video Representative Ilhan Omar reposted on X further states Charlie Kirk ``was a reprehensible human being. He enacted his political agenda by preying on weak minded people. He took complex socioeconomic issues and simplified them by pointing fingers at out- groups, demonizing those groups, and siccing his massive following on them'';

Whereas the video Representative Ilhan Omar reposted on X further states Charlie Kirk was a ``stochastic terrorist, an adamant transphobe, he denied the genocide happening in Palestine, he believed in the subjugation of women, and in his last dying words he was spewing racist dog whistles'';

Whereas the video Representative Ilhan Omar reposted on X further states ``Charlie Kirk was Dr. Frankenstein and his monster shot him through the neck'';

Whereas the video Representative Ilhan Omar reposted on X further blames Charlie Kirk for his own murder;

Whereas clause 1 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives provides, ``A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House''; and

Whereas Representative Ilhan Omar's actions in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk are reprehensible and affect the dignity and integrity of the proceedings of the House and do not reflect credibility on the House: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that--

(1) Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota be censured;

(2) Representative Ilhan Omar forthwith present herself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure;

(3) Representative Ilhan Omar be censured with the public reading of this resolution by the Speaker; and

(4) Representative Ilhan Omar be, and is hereby, removed from the Committee on Education and Workforce and the Committee on the Budget of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly object to this censure resolution which does not include a single quote from Representative Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and seeks to punish her for comments she never made. After the unconscionable act of gun violence that took the life of Charlie Kirk, Representative Omar clearly and immediately condemned this assassination. She expressed her profound shock, sadness, grief about this despicable act of political violence. She expressed sympathy and empathy for Mr. Kirk's wife and young daughters who are enduring unimaginable pain and sorrow.

Sadly, Republicans are misleading Americans and deliberately using this resolution to further divide Democrats and Republicans at a time when all Americans need to come together to condemn acts of political violence, which are becoming all too commonplace in our Nation.

Censure is a serious tool that should be reserved for holding Members of Congress accountable for unethical or criminal behavior, like committing assault or accepting bribes, or for specific categories of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment, including direct threats against individuals, inciting treason or insurrection, or the use of aggressively insulting ``fighting words'' against another Member on the House Floor.

Mr. Speaker, I voted against this censure and will continue to defend our right to free speech to represent our constituents and voice our conscience as Representatives in this great democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and missed Roll Call votes numbered 272 through 276. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 272, ordering the previous question; NO on Roll Call No. 273, agreeing to H. Res. 722; NAY on Roll Call No. 274, final passage of H.R. 5125; NAY on Roll Call No. 275, final passage of H.R. 5143; and YEA on Roll Call No. 276, the motion to table H. Res. 713.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the House and offer the resolution that was previously noticed.

I have a motion at the desk, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.