One of the top concerns among Democrats is that censuring Rep. Steve King would open the floodgates for Republicans to retaliate with action of their own. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images congress House Dem leaders reject harsher punishment for Steve King

House Democratic leaders have quietly rejected a push by rank-and-file members to force a rare and potentially divisive vote on censuring Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), according to multiple Democratic sources.

The House moved Wednesday to essentially shelve a grassroots attempt to further punish King for racist remarks that he made to the New York Times this month. If it had succeeded, King could have faced one of the most severe punishments that a lawmaker can receive.


The two House Democrats who have led the charge to censure King — Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) — ultimately agreed not to force the vote, under pressure from some Democratic leaders who feared lasting consequences from the move.

Their decision almost certainly means that the House will not take a formal vote to censure King, which has only happened a few dozen times in history. Instead, both Rush and Ryan say they are putting King on notice.

“Obviously, it’s not what I want,” Ryan said Wednesday about forgoing a vote on the censure motion. “The next time something like this happens, we’ll bring it out of committee, and I think we move to expel him at that point.”

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The decision came on the House floor Wednesday — with no debate or even a roll call vote — after several days of talks between Democratic leaders, Rush and Ryan. As recently as Wednesday afternoon, Rush was still pushing for the censure vote and Ryan had yet to sign off on leadership's plan.

But behind the scenes, Democratic leaders, led by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), were clear about their opposition, according to multiple Democratic lawmakers and aides.

“Leadership has been full-court press on not bringing it up,” one Democratic aide said.

Clyburn initially told reporters that he would support a censure vote on the floor, if it came to that. Privately, though, Clyburn and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), were warning rank-and-file members that going as far as censure could come back to harm Democrats.

Clyburn made clear publicly — including on a rare MSNBC appearance — that he was concerned about the effect on the institution. King’s remarks, he argued, had not been made on the House floor, so it would be setting a new precedent. Privately, Clyburn also warned that it would divide the caucus, or even put vulnerable Democrats at risk.

Hoyer told members that he was concerned about opening the floodgates for future censure resolutions, and possibly triggering a backlash from House Republicans.

Every House Republican supported the Democratic resolution earlier this week that targeted King, but did not explicitly name him. That resolution condemned the concept of “white supremacy,” which King appeared to support in a recent interview. House GOP leaders also separately voted to pluck King from all committee assignments.

Rush felt so strongly about censuring King that he voted against the resolution on the floor, the only one out of 435 members.

Democrats feared that a censure motion, however, could further polarize the House by inviting GOP lawmakers to target Democrats for other controversial speech.

“Steny [Hoyer] showed some concern about it going back and forth — not that I think there is any moral equivalency at all with recent comments that people on our side have made,” Ryan said, referring to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)’s recent expletive-laced comments directed at President Trump.

Several Republicans have already privately discussed the possibility of censuring Tlaib, a liberal firebrand who made headlines after vowing to “impeach the mother----er” in reference to Trump. Several GOP lawmakers have also seized on comments made by Tlaib this month that they argued were anti-Semitic.

“If Steve King gets censured, all bets are off,” one House GOP aide said. “If Democrats do force a censure vote for comments made outside the house floor, Democrats probably realize there are other things for us to look at it.”

On Tuesday night, Clyburn huddled with Ryan and Rush, where he further cautioned that the move could put their colleagues in a tough spot.

“I understand Bobby Rush's feelings. Bobby is a very good friend. We talk often. We discussed this at length before the vote. And we have discussed it since the vote. The fact of matter is, I hesitate to go as far as censure for anything that's done outside the realm of our official duties,” Clyburn said on MSNBC on Wednesday morning.



By Wednesday evening, Rush had agreed to back down, and allowed his resolution to be referred to the House Ethics Committee. He acknowledged reporters that he was disappointed, but said he would be closely watching King's moves.

John Bresnahan, Heather Caygle and Caitlin Oprysko contributed to this story.

