Tonight both of Southwest Florida’s representatives in Congress voted against a congressional resolution “Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.”
The bill, House Resolution 489, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 240 to 187, largely along party lines.
Both Rep. Francis Rooney (R-19-Fla.) and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-25-Fla.) voted against the resolution. As of this writing, neither had issued a formal statement explaining their votes.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-7-NJ) after President Trump tweeted on July 14 that four members of Congress, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-14-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-5-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-13-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-7-Mass.), all American citizens and three out of four born in the United States, should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
The resolution, which is non-binding and does not have the force of law or compel any action, nonetheless expresses the sense of Congress and is an unusually strong condemnation of a sitting president.
The resolution cites the contributions of immigrants to the United States and the support and praise past presidents have expressed for immigrants and open immigration.
Noting that “President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color,” the resolution stated that the House of Representatives:
“(1) believes that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger, and 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;
“(2) 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; and
“(3) strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color by saying that our fellow Americans who are immigrants, and those who may look to the President like immigrants, should “go back” to other countries, by referring to immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders,” and by saying that Members of Congress who are immigrants (or those of our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immigrants) do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America.”