Chaos Erupts In Congress As Republicans Demand Democrat Withdraw ‘Racist Trash’ Accusation

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) condemned Republican arguments against statehood for Washington, D.C., as "racist trash" in a speech on the House floor Thursday, leading to vocal objections and a heated argument that resulted in Mondaire withdrawing his statement in the latest sign of the bitter tensions underpinning the statehood debate.

In a floor speech, Jones, a progressive freshman and a vocal advocate for statehood, took aim at Rep. Jody Hice’s (R-Ga.) claim D.C. has no landfills., as well as Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) contrast between D.C. and a “well-rounded, working class state” like Wyoming.

“I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word ‘white,’” Jones said of Cotton’s argument, accusing Republicans of “racist insinuations that somehow the people of Washington, D.C. are incapable or even unworthy of our democracy” and “racist trash.”