On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., had a heated argument with U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin, R–Indiana, over his negative words about former President Donald Trump.
McGovern talked about Trump’s current legal problems on the House floor while bills were being debated. He mentioned the hush money trial in New York, where Trump is being charged with 34 counts of forging business records. McGovern said on Wednesday that politicians are “being stopped” from addressing the many accusations against the former president.
McGovern said, “In this House run by Republicans, you can talk about the trial, but you have to call it a sham.”
Houchin, who is on the House Rules Committee, spoke up twice during McGovern’s speech and asked that his words be taken out of the record each time.
“Mr. Speaker, I want those words to be taken down,” Houchin said.
Axios says that McGovern’s conversation with Houchin came after a debate with a Republican representative from Alabama about whether lawmakers could insult presidential candidates. Axios reported that U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, who was in charge of the debate on Wednesday, said McGovern broke House rules.
Several news sites said on Wednesday that the exchange caused the House to be delayed for an hour.
A spokesperson for Houchin’s office said in a statement that Carl’s decision that McGovern’s words were “personally offensive” to candidates was proof that they broke House rules.
“Congresswoman Houchin called for Mr. McGovern’s words to be taken down because House rules forbid Members of Congress from engaging in ‘personalities’ – which includes specifically accusing or insulting political opponents by name,” a spokesperson said.
For the 9th Congressional District in southern Indiana, Houchin is the representative. He was first voted to Congress in 2022 and is running for another term this year. Trump backed the Salem representative twice, first in 2016 and again in 2024.
Houchin was in the state Senate for eight years before that he was in Congress.