This story is available for republication. Please see our policy here.
Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach faces a possible censure by House Republicans in the coming weeks following comments he made about Elon Musk and his role leading the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The comments in question were made Wednesday during a raucous first hearing of the DOGE oversight subcommittee, on which Garcia sits, and afterward on a CNN talk show. During the hearing, Garcia joined other Democrats on the panel in deriding Musk, at one point pulling out a photo of the billionaire and calling it a “d**k pic,” in reference to DOGE subcommittee chair Majorie Taylor Greene’s previous showing of censored, intimate photos of Hunter Biden at a hearing in 2023.
In the CNN interview after the hearing, Garcia elaborated, saying, “What I think is really important and what the American public want is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy, for the future of this country. And it’s important to push back on the chairperson of this committee.”
Garcia’s comments caught the attention of South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who introduced a censure resolution saying “violence, threats of violence, or attempts to incite violence against Federal employees should not be tolerated in the House of Representatives.”
“The Left is running like roaches with the light on over @DOGE,” Mace wrote on X. “@RepRobertGarcia went far beyond the pale last night, calling for weapons to be used against @ElonMusk. This won’t be ignored. We’re making an example out of him.”
In response, Garcia called the censure resolution “pretty silly” and “ironic,” in reference to Mace’s challenge to Rep. Jasmine Crockett to “take it outside” following a heated exchange on transgender rights at a House Oversight Committee meeting in January.
“Obviously, I was using a figure of speech,” Garcia said, adding of Mace: “This is a person who runs around terrorizing everybody and says horrific things about LGBTQ+ people and working people.”
A censure is akin to a formal statement of disapproval. If brought before a governmental body, such as the House of Representatives, it allows members to vote on whether to, as a group, condemn the actions of an individual. Many censures do not reach that point; of the at least 25 congressional censures filed since 2023, three made it to the House floor.
Garcia’s office said they are unsure of when, or if, the resolution will be brought to the House floor. A decision will likely not come for eight or nine days, until after next week’s recess.
An affirmative vote would make Garcia the 26th congress member to be censured in the history of the House. The first, in 1832, was an Ohio lawmaker who was accused of insulting the House speaker. Another was censured for striking a fellow lawmaker with a cane, one for supporting recognition of the Confederacy, one for pulling the fire alarm and another for selling military academy appointments.
“His words are the lowest form of political thuggery,” Mace said in a statement. “But because it’s one of their own, the Left stays silent. This double standard is disgusting. Rep. Garcia should be censured, and the fact his party refuses to condemn him tells you everything you need to know about their so-called ‘values.’”
When asked, Garcia said constituents and colleagues have been anything but silent.
“I can’t walk outside without someone thanking me for what I said,” Garcia said. “I feel like more people have my back today and want us to be loud and to push back than I’ve ever felt.”
He said the censure is ultimately a distraction from the DOGE group’s sweep through government agencies in recent weeks. This comes as the small team led by Musk continues to recommend slashing billions of dollars from programs within USAID — the United States’ foreign aid agency — and the federal Education Department.
“We have to stop as Democrats and as good people, laying down and allowing these billionaires to bulldoze us over,” Garcia said. “We have to punch back and we should not allow the world’s richest man to go unchallenged.”