House Republicans say they have the support necessary to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee despite public grumblings from a handful of GOP lawmakers about such a floor vote.
Ms. Omar, Minnesota Democrat and a progressive member of the “Squad,” has angered Republicans and moderate Democrats for antisemitic tropes she’s publicly stated.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana told reporters Tuesday 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 versus when the Democrats used their majority to strip Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of their committee assignments last Congress.
“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.”
He added, “If Omar is concerned about being removed, [it would] probably be good if you would ask her why she voted to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene and Gosar from their committees.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy already blocked 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.
Mr. McCarthy said Mr. Swalwell’s former association with a Chinese spy and Mr. Schiff’s partisan gamesmanship on the committee and amplification of the debunked anti-Trump Steele dossier as reasons to boot them off the committee.
Unlike with the intelligence committee, Mr. McCarthy cannot unilaterally block Ms. Omar from her committee assignment. Her removal requires a House vote.
Mr. McCarthy defended his decision during a recent interview on Fox News to proceed with a vote on Ms. Omar’s committee ouster.
“Now Congresswoman Omar, the thing she has said, as a member of Congress … ’People only love Israel for the Benjamins.’ She said on 9/11, ‘Something happened there.’ She equated the U.S. military and the Israeli security forces … to Hamas … claiming it to others inside the Middle East,” he said.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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