Rep. Max Miller introduced a resolution Tuesday to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over past remarks that he says are anti-semitic.
Ms. Omar, Minnesota Democrat and a member of the progressive “Squad,” has upset Republican lawmakers and moderate Democrats for past anti-semitic comments.
GOP leadership has long promised it would hold a vote to remove her from the panel when their party recaptured the House as retaliation for Democrats removing two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona, from all of their committee assignments last Congress.
Mr. Miller of Ohio, one of the few Jewish Republicans in Congress, stated in his resolution on Ms. Omar, “Whereas Representative Omar’s comments have brought dishonor to the House of Representatives: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the following named member be, and is hereby, removed from the following standing committee of the House of Representatives: Committee on Foreign Affairs.”
In a statement, Mr. Miller said Ms. Omar made anti-semitic tropes and “attempted to undermine the relationship between the United States and Israel, one of the most important strategic alliances we have. She has disqualified herself from serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”
He said the move to remove is not about politics or engaging in “a tit-for-tat with the Democrats.”
“Congresswoman Omar clearly cannot be an objective decision-maker on the Foreign Affairs Committee given her biases against Israel and against the Jewish people,” he said.
Ms. Omar responded to Mr. Miller’s resolution on Twitter saying, Tuesday night, “There is nothing objectively true in this resolution. It’s all perceived and filled with pretext.”
She continued, “Also, if not being objective is a reason to not serve on committees, no one would be on committees. We vote our districts. This censorship really underscores their true intentions.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy already prevented two other Democrats from their committee assignments last week: Reps. Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both of California, from the House Select Committee on Intelligence. Unlike the Foreign Affair Committee, the speaker can block a lawmaker from an appointment to the Intelligence panel.
House Republican leaders, though, say they have the support necessary to remove Ms. Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee despite public opposition from a handful of GOP lawmakers about holding a floor vote for her removal.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana told reporters the GOP leadership team has been talking to its members and pointing out issues related to blocking Ms. Omar from the Foreign Affairs panel, and the differences with Democrats’ ouster of Ms. Taylor Greene and Mr. Gosar.
“Number one, they went after Marjorie Taylor Greene for things that she had said before she was a member of Congress, that she denounced before she was a member of Congress,” Mr. Scalise said. “It was very personal, and they removed her from every committee. Even if Omar were to be removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee, she‘d still be allowed to serve on other committees.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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