Democrats kill GOP-backed resolution to rebuke Nancy Pelosi for ripping up SOTU speech

House Democrats voted Thursday to kill a Republican resolution that would have formally chastised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for tearing up a copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

The measure was introduced by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) Wednesday and formally disapproves of Pelosi's move to rip up the speech, saying that the speaker's actions were "a breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House."

Since the resolution was introduced as privileged under House rules, Granger was able to force the chamber to consider it Thursday afternoon. After the resolution was brought up, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) moved to table the matter, a parliamentary move used to kill an issue.

The motion to table was agreed to by a party-line vote of 224-193, with all Democrats and lone independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) voting in favor; all Republicans opposed the motion.

"Speaker Pelosi's actions last night were appalling and shameful," Granger said in a Wednesday statement about the resolution. "Regardless of her personal feelings, she had a responsibility to conduct herself with civility as the presiding officer representing the House of Representatives. She is not the Speaker of the Democrats, but of the People's House."

Earlier Thursday, an irritated Pelosi defended her decision to tear up the paper at her weekly press briefing, calling the speech "a manifesto of mistruths."

"I don't need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity," she said, adding that "it was completely, entirely appropriate, and — considering some of the other exuberances within me — the courteous thing to do."

Granger's resolution wasn't the only Republican effort to formally discipline Pelosi for ripping the speech. On Wednesday, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) announced "a resolution to censure & condemn" her, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) announced that he would file an ethics complaint against her.

But while tearing up the speech may have drawn copious criticism from her Republican colleagues, House Democrats responded to the move quite warmly. The speaker reportedly got a standing ovation at Wednesday morning's House Democratic caucus meeting.