Senate rebukes Wisconsin congressman who yelled vulgarities at excessive school-age pages

A freshman Republican congressman from Wisconsin yelled and cursed at excessive school-aged Senate pages throughout a late night time tour of the Capitol this week, eliciting a bipartisan rebuke from Senate leaders Thursday night.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin’s third Congressional District, used a profanity to explain them as lazy and and one other to get them organized off the ground of the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday night time, in response to a report within the on-line political publication PunchBowl News. The pages have been laying right down to take pictures within the Rotunda, in response to the publication

In a press release responding to the report, Van Orden didn’t deny it – and he doubled down on the sentiment.

“I have long said our nation’s Capitol is a symbol of the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for this country and should never be treated like a frat house common room,” Van Orden mentioned. “Threatening a congressman with bad press to excuse poor behavior is a reminder of everything that’s wrong with Washington. Luckily, bad press has never bothered me and if it’s the price I pay to stand up for what’s right, then so be it.”

Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL who was outdoors of the Capitol throughout the Jan. 6, 2021 rebellion, additionally appeared to embrace the presence of alcohol in his workplace that very same night after pictures have been posted on social media exhibiting bottles of liquor and beer cans on a desk in his workplace. Van Orden mentioned on X, the platform beforehand often called Twitter, that the alcohol was from constituents.

And his spokeswoman Anna Kelly posted: “As the Congressman says, once you cross the threshold to our office, you are in Wisconsin!” She adopted that with a beer mug emoji.

On Thursday night, simply earlier than the Senate left for its August recess, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rebuked Van Orden’s conduct and thanked the pages, excessive school-age college students who function helpers and messengers across the Senate. Several of the pages have been sitting on the Senate ground on the time, smiling and nodding as dozens of senators stood and gave them a standing ovation.

Without mentioning Van Orden by title, Schumer mentioned he was “shocked” to listen to in regards to the conduct of a member of the House Republican majority and “further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people.” He famous that Thursday was the ultimate day for this class of pages.

“They’re here when we need them,” Schumer mentioned. “And they have served this institution with grace.”

McConnell mentioned he related himself with Schumer’s phrases. “Everybody on this side of the aisle feels exactly the same way,” he mentioned.

Van Orden was elected to Congress in 2022 after a dropping bid in 2020. He has insisted that he didn’t enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, however that didn’t cease fellow Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat, from invoking the Jan. 6 assault in criticizing Van Orden. Pocan mentioned the Capitol ought to be revered.

“Wonder if he told that to his fellow insurrectionists, who were beating police officers on the same ground?” Pocan mentioned on X.

Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat who’s working to problem Van Orden in 2024, known as him a humiliation and a hypocrite.

“We should be encouraging youth engagement in our democratic process, not using vulgar language towards them,” Cooke mentioned.

Cooke known as Van Orden a “serial harasser” and referenced an incident in June 2021 when Van Orden was upset a couple of show of LGBTQ+ books at a southwestern Wisconsin library and yelled at an adolescent who was working there.