A House committee on fossil fuels went off the rails Wednesday after Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush accused one of the witnesses of being racist.
Bush began her opening statement criticizing the oil industry before turning her attention toward an unidentified witness.
“If House Republicans actually cared about preventing an energy and economic crisis from happening, they would commit to investing in renewable energy. Unfortunately, there are no serious proposals being offered. Rising inflation, caused by Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 related supply chain shortages, combined with dangerous corporate greed and reliance on fossil fuels, has left the United States in a tenuous position,” Bush said, calling for an end to the reliance on oil.
Bush the criticized Republicans for inviting “for-profit think tanks and oil-titans” that allegedly seek to maximize profits at the expense of minority communities.
“One of these so-called ‘energy experts’ is a philosopher who has previously espoused white supremacist views. For instance, in his 2000 college newspaper, he wrote ‘the African and American studies department has 23 classes and many of these classes African culture is presented not as’-” Bush said before someone cut in.
“Mr. Chairman, I ask the gentlelady’s words be taken down. She just called the witness a white supremacist,” Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said.
“No, I referred to the words, not to the person,” Bush said, stuttering.
“The gentlelady is referring to the witnesses statement and referred to him as a white supremacist, I would like a parliamentary decree having the gentlelady’s words taken down,” Boebert shot back.
Boebert then asked the chairman whether it’s “appropriate for ranking members to show to respect to the witnesses who are here, present in the room today?”
“I would like that sentiment to be expressed and the members reminded to show respect to our witnesses who are here today,” Boebert continued.
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