“This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country,” Mr. Trump wrote.
While some Democrats had pressed for a stronger resolution of censure, House leaders opted instead for a narrower measure based on Mr. Trump’s latest remarks, in an effort to generate a unanimous vote in their party.
During the meeting on Tuesday morning, Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of the Rules Committee, warned members to take care with their language during the debate, including checking with the official in charge of enforcing floor procedures to make sure their speeches would not violate House rules against making personal references to the president on the floor.
Ms. Pelosi advised Democrats to focus on how Mr. Trump’s “words were racist,” which would keep them in compliance with the rules. Later, after Mr. Collins objected to her speech, Ms. Pelosi shot back that she had cleared them in advance to ensure they were within bounds.
While the vote is symbolic and nonbinding, the debate dramatized the conflict between Democrats and a president who has organized his agenda and his re-election campaign around stoking racial controversy, and casting the group of progressive stars as dangerous extremists to be feared.
Among other things, the resolution declares that the House “believes that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger,” that “those who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as American as those whose families have lived in the United States for many generations,” and that the House “is committed to keeping America open to those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from violence and oppression, and those who are willing to work hard to live the American Dream, no matter their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin.”
One after another, Republicans rose to reject the criticism of Mr. Trump, arguing that it was Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and her colleagues, who have sometimes used coarse language to describe the president and his policies, who should be rebuked and punished for their words and conduct.
“When we consider the power of this chamber to legislate for the common good, I wonder why my colleagues have become so eager to attack the president they are willing to sacrifice the rules, precedent and the integrity of the people’s house for an unprecedented vote that undercuts its very democratic processes,” Mr. Collins said.