A tense exchange between U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, and Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, prompted the Republican to offer to “take the matter outside” during a committee meeting Tuesday.

Mace said during a meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Republicans should not accept advice “from a group of people who cannot define what a woman is.” She said that there should be “dignity and respect for women” on Capitol Hill, “which is why we should ban men from women’s spaces” such as restrooms, locker rooms and locker rooms.

Mace, in Congress since 2021, has made the attack on transgender rights a political focus, filing bills restricting bathroom use and making dozens of social media posts last year calling transgender people mentally ill and child predators.

When it was her turn to speak, Crockett shot back.

Watch: The exchange between Crockett and Mace begins at approximately 2:25:00:

“I’m so glad we were finally able to end this nice little propaganda commercial break,” Crockett said. “Look, I don’t know what Ms. Mace was talking about. I thought we were talking about government efficiency.”

Crockett said Democrats are willing to work on behalf of the American people, while their colleagues on the other side appear focused on targeting the most vulnerable people in the United States

“The fact that you just sat up there and somehow figured out how to associate transgender with your argument makes no sense to me,” Crockett told Mace. “But let me tell you something: Trans people are going nowhere, just like they did when racists wanted to make sure Black people in this country were somehow dismissed. We’re not gone either.”

Crockett later offered an amendment to reinstate a civil rights and civil liberties subcommittee. She rejected the idea that civil rights only apply to black Americans, explaining the term as “a class of rights that protect the freedom of individuals from interference by governments, social organizations, and private individuals.”

She also defined it as a constitutional right to privacy, due process, voting and worship without discrimination and urged the committee to support her amendment and show the courage of the lawmakers who passed the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s.

Mace said she believes in civil rights and civil liberties for all Americans, but argued that Democrats don’t respect women because the minority party doesn’t want to give women their privacy rights when it comes to transgender people.

“You all want men with penises – girls with cocks – in our bathrooms,” Mace said. “They want women to be forced to undress in front of men in the locker room and locker rooms.”

Mace said she didn’t want to hear Crockett talk about civil rights “because you can’t have the courage of the ’60s to fight for women, for women like me, across America.”

“As a rape survivor, I shouldn’t have to explain to you why women have rights,” Mace said. “You are making women in this country feel unsafe, and you are making the chances of women and girls being raped and sexually abused in this country even greater than ever before. So don’t come here with your attitude and talk to me about rights when you’re trying to take away my rights as a woman, as a rape survivor.”

“I don’t even know how we got there because I was trying to make a point about how much civil rights there are — it doesn’t just come down to a conversation,” Crockett said. “But I can see that someone’s campaign coffers are really struggling right now, so she’s going to keep saying ‘Trans, Trans, Trans’ to make people feel threatened and, chile, listen.”

Mace, mistaking Crockett’s use of the term “Chile” for the congresswoman calling her a “child,” immediately interjected.

“I’m not a child,” Mace said, talking over Crockett. “Don’t call me a child. I am not a child. Don’t even start.”

As Crockett tried to regain her speaking time, Mace, 47, said she was a grown woman who had broken through more glass ceilings than Crockett.

“If you want to take it outside,” Mace added, “we can do that.”

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., asked Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., whether committee rules allow members to incite violence, citing Mace’s comment.

“Hey, I have a First Amendment right to do that, young man,” Mace replied. “I will not be called a child by any of you.”

She also insisted that going outside could be an invitation for a conversation.

Crockett tweeted one word from her congressional account: “Chile…”

In her campaign report, Crockett called Mace “an attention-grabbing loser who clearly has some fundraising goals to hit…and to be clear, that’s the only thing she’s going to accomplish…”

Republicans could not incite violence in Congress but also claim to be the party of law and order, Crockett tweeted.

“Last time I checked,” she concluded, “threatening members in a committee room doesn’t exactly reduce the cost of eggs.”