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U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) both signed a House resolution to censure President Donald Trump for statements the commander in chief made equating the white supremacists and counterprotesters who marched in violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12.
A man with ties to white nationalist groups allegedly rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 others.
The resolution condemns Trump for walking back his statements against white supremacists, including the Klu Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other "alt-right" groups who espoused racist and hateful views in Virginia last weekend.
Trump initially faced backlash for refusing to condemn the hate groups by name, but on Monday he made a stronger statement identifying and denouncing some of the right-wing extremists. The next day, he made comments that some say created a false equivalence between counter-protesters and the white supremacists, saying "both sides" held blame for the violence at Saturday's protest.
"The vast majority of Americans are forcefully speaking out against Trump's behavior that serves only to embolden these white nationalists," Blumenauer said in a statement. "Congress must act now to send a strong statement against hatred, white supremacy, and Nazism and to those who support and enable them, including the President of the United States."
Bonamici called Trump's Tuesday statements "abhorrent".
The resolution was introduced Friday morning with 79 signatures from Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. No Republicans have backed the move to censure the president yet.