Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman’s push to censure House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik added a wrinkle to the recent trend of members using the power of their office to generate headlines about their political opponents.
While others recently have filed privileged resolutions that force votes on the House floor on censures, Goldman did not take that path. Instead, his resolution would require Republicans to bring up a vote to censure one of their leaders. That is unlikely to happen.
Still, the measure sparked dozens of headlines that put a spotlight on Stefanik’s comments two weeks ago that referred to pro-Trump rioters who faced criminal charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building as “hostages.”
