United States House of Representatives voted to censure Paul Gosar, a member of the Republican party and a lawmaker from the state of Arizona. The 62-year-old came under fire from Democratic lawmakers after posting a controversial video earlier this month, which showed him striking fellow lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Representative Gosar would now be stripped of his membership in two crucial committees of the legislative chamber. These include the Natural Resources Committee and House Oversight and Reform Committee, which Ocasio-Cortez is also a part of.

This is the first time the House of Representatives has censured a member of the body in the last decade. Charles Rangel, who served in the United States Congress for decades, was the last lawmaker to be censured by the House in December 2010.

Only two GOP lawmakers in the House voted to censure Representative Gosar. These included Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), both of whom serve on the January 6 committee. The vote on Wednesday ended with a tally of 223-207.

Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called the vote an “abuse of power” by Democrats to distract from national problems. He said of the censure, a “new standard will continue to be applied in the future,” a signal of potential ramifications for Democratic members in future Congresses, according to reports from Associated Press.

However, Democratic lawmakers said there was nothing political about the procedure.

“These actions demand a response. We cannot have members joking about murdering each other,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “This is both an endangerment of our elected officials and an insult to the institution.”

Ocasio-Cortez herself said in an emotional speech, “Our work here matters. Our example matters. There is meaning in our service. And as leaders, in this country, when we incite violence with depictions against our colleagues that trickles down to violence in this country. And that is where we must draw the line.”

(With AP inputs)