U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, said he didn’t intend to shout back at President Donald Trump during Trump’s speech to Congress earlier this month — but would do it again, despite the consequences, including receiving numerous death threats and being censured by his House colleagues.
Speaking to a packed room at Austin’s AFL-CIO labor hall near the Capitol this week, Green said he wanted to make clear to the president that voters didn’t give him a mandate to cut Medicaid or Social Security. He urged the public to engage in peaceful protest to protect those and other services.
“I want you to know that if the Congress won’t act and if the court can’t act because (Trump) won’t abide by the rulings of the court…there is but one remedy left,” Green said. “We the people. We the people will have the last word…this country was built on we the people. The country wasn’t built on DOGE,” Green said, referring to Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency. “The country won’t be destroyed by DOGE.”
