President Joe Biden spoke out on Thursday about the actions of the Tennessee House of Representatives for expelling two Democratic representatives.
The House voted to expel Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson. A week after, they protested for gun control measures.
The President released the following statement Thursday night:
“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.
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. “
Former President Barack Obama also had something to say in a series of tweets:
“This nation was built on peaceful protest. No elected official should lose their job simply for raising their voice – especially when they’re doing it on behalf of our children. What happened in Tennessee is the latest example of a broader erosion of civility and democratic norms. Silencing those who disagree with us is a sign of weakness, not strength, and it won’t lead to progress.”
Defending the Republican Party, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton told Fox News on Wednesday:
“I want to make sure everybody knows this has nothing to do about the protest outside the House chamber or the protests outside the Capitol.”
Sexton on air responded as well with:
“He’s trying to make this about the protesters. He’s trying to make this about what people were protesting about. Their voices were not silenced. This has nothing to do with anything that happened outside the House chamber,” he said.
“Their actions on the House floor rise to the level of expulsion. We cannot allow these types of things to take place in the people’s House,” he added.
26-year-old transgender gunman Audrey Hale opened fire, killing six inside the building, three of whom were children.
