Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) on Tuesday said he will no longer pursue a resolution to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), following the GOP lawmaker’s overdue apology for “offensive” comments she made last month that likened the House’s mask mandate to the Holocaust.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Schneider cited Greene’s visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. in informing his decision to back away from the censure resolution.
“I believe that words matter and that they have consequences,” Schneider said. “Elected officials, and especially members of Congress, have a great responsibility to carefully measure our words and be as precise as possible when we communicate. Sometimes we may stumble in our message. When we do, we should be given the chance to clarify exactly what we intended to say and promptly set the record straight.”
Following her visit to the museum, Greene apologized for her “offensive” Holocaust comments last month. After acknowledging the deaths of six million Jews during the Holocaust, Greene finally admitted that her comments were inflammatory.
“There is no comparison to the Holocaust,” Greene said. “And there are words that I have said, remarks that I have made, that I know are offensive, and for that, I want to apologize.”
Hours before Greene’s visit to the Holocaust museum on Monday, Schneider signaled that he was preparing to introduce his censure resolution against Greene in light of her comparisons between the Holocaust and public health requirements to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
When @RepMTG repeatedly compared the US Covid-response to Hitler and the Holocaust, she dishonored the millions of lives lost in WWII and the Shoah. She has forgotten America’s fight against the Nazi menace.
On Wednesday, we’re introducing our resolution to censure her.
— Rep. Brad Schneider (@RepSchneider) June 14, 2021
Although Greene’s incendiary remarks drew mounting backlash, the Georgia congresswoman refused for days to back down on her remarks.
Greene initially complained about the House’s mask mandate during an interview on Real America’s Voice last month.
“You know, we can look back at a time in history when people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said. “And this is exactly the type of abuse that (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
Greene continued leaning in on her Holocaust remarks amid the firestorm she kicked up.
I never compared it to the Holocaust, only the discrimination against Jews in early Nazi years.
Stop feeding into the left wing media attacks on me.
Everyone should be concerned about the squads support for terrorists and discrimination against unvaxxed people.
Why aren’t they? https://t.co/z1zotvegg9— Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) May 25, 2021
Four days after Greene’s Holocaust remarks added to her long line of incendiary remarks, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally got around to condemning her comments.
“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” McCarthy said in a statement. “The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.”
