The House of Representatives on Wednesday night voted against a resolution that would have censured Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a progressive congresswoman.

In a final vote, 222-186, all House Democrats voted with nearly two dozen Republicans to kill the motion in its entirety without any debate.

When the resolution failed, Democrats applauded briefly.

Tlaib was the subject of a censure in the House introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for Tlaib’s comments and his actions relating to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Just before the voting started, a retaliatory measure aimed at censurating Greene was removed from the agenda. It had been introduced by Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.).

Balint issued a statement congratulating the Tlaib Resolution’s failure and stating that she would be withdrawing her resolution for now.

“Given that this conference voted for an election denier, it was a concern whether my resolution to censure Rep. Greene would pass with the necessary votes from’moderate Republicans’. “They have shown that they cannot stand up when it is necessary to do so,” Balint said in reference to the election by R-La Speaker Mike Johnson.

“But when tonight 23 Republicans said no to Rep. Greene’s bigotry I saw the situation differently. I thank them for the right thing they did. For now, I will not vote. Vermonters, and people all over the country, need us to focus on the urgent issues facing working people at home and abroad.

Greene blamed Tlaib last month for a protest that saw hundreds Gaza cease-fire demonstration demonstrators arrested when they took over the Cannon House Office Building. Greene repeatedly called the protest an “insurrection”.

Greene called the 23 Republicans “feckless” after the vote.

“This is the reason Republicans never do anything to stop communist Democrats or hold anyone accountable!” Greene wrote about this on X, formerly Twitter.

The resolution was voted on by a wide range of members in the GOP Conference, including Chip Roy, R. Texas, the Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Policy Committee, conservatives such as Rep. Harriet Hageman R. W.Va. and moderates like Rep. John Duarte R. California.

In his explanation of his vote, Roy called Greene’s resolution “feckless.”

“Rep. Rashida Tlaib made outrageous comments about Israel and the Jewish community. Roy said that Tlaib’s conduct was unbecoming for a member in Congress, and she should be condemned – if possible censured.

“However, the feckless resolution tonight to censure Tlaib, was deeply flawed, and made legal and factually unsubstantiated claims, including that he led an ‘insurrection ‘…I vote to table the Resolution. Many people abused the term insurrection after the Capitol events of January 2021. We shouldn’t continue to make claims of “insurrection” at the Capitol, and we shouldn’t abuse the term today.”

Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), another of the 23 members, said that he was standing up for freedom of speech by voting to stop the Tlaib censure, but condemned her remarks about Israel.

Walberg stated that “as much as i disagree with the previous comments made to me by Rep. Tlaib. First Amendment liberties belong to every American. I will support this right constitutionally, regardless of whether the speaker comes from the left or the right and if they speak heinous truths or blatant lies.”

When we hear bad speech, we shouldn’t look to the government to find the solution but instead speak out as individuals to denounce the evil.