CNN
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The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass a resolution to remove Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
House Republicans argued that Omar should not serve on the committee because of past statements he made related to Israel that in some cases were criticized by members of both parties as antisemitic. Democrats criticized the push to oust Omar, arguing that it was an act of political revenge and that the Minnesota Democrat was held accountable for his past remarks. The party-line vote was 218 to 211. GOP Rep. David Joyce of Ohio voted “present.”
Omar dissented in a speech on the floor before the vote. “My leadership and voice will not be diminished if I am not on this committee for one term. My voice will be louder and louder,” he said.
“So take your vote or not – I’m here to stay, and I’m here to be a voice against harm around the world and advocate for a better world,” the congressman said.
The action comes after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy officially denied seats on the House Intelligence Committee to Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, the former chairman of the panel – a decision condemned by Democrats.
McCarthy promised last year that if Republicans win back a majority in the House, he would strip Schiff, Swalwell and Omar of their committee jobs, arguing that Democrats were setting a “new precedent” when they retained the majority by removing Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona from committees for violent rhetoric and posts.
House Republicans, now in the majority, have given Greene and Gosar committee assignments for the new Congress.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday accused Republicans of “political revenge.”
He defended the move by Democrats in the last Congress to vote Republicans into committee jobs, arguing that they incited violence against their colleagues.
“The line has to be drawn when there are members of Congress actively threatening violence against colleagues,” Jeffries said, adding, “We take violent threats seriously because we follow through on them.”
In 2019, Omar issued a public apology after he faced backlash for tweets that were condemned by both sides of the aisle. The apology came after the Minnesota Democrat faced widespread criticism after suggesting Republican support for Israel was fueled by donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a prominent pro-Israel group.
There were other incidents as well: In 2021, a group of Jewish House Democrats accused Omar of equating the US and Israel with the Taliban and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group designated by the US as a terrorist organization. In response, Omar said that he “does not equate terrorist organizations with democratic countries.”
Greene and Gosar, who already have committee assignments, have also faced criticism from both sides of the aisle. Last year, Republican leaders in Congress condemned two lawmakers for speaking at a White nationalist conference.
Greene spoke at the America First Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida – an event founded by far-right activist Nick Fuentes as an alternative to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Gosar appeared at the America First Political Action Conference via a pre-recorded video, HuffPost reported. Gosar also attended the same conference last year.
Greene defended his appearance in a lengthy statement, dismissing the blowback as “fake divisions and false allegations” and asserting that he would not “cancel” other conservatives even if he saw their statements. which is “tasteless, wrong or even at times.”
A CNN KFile review of Gosar’s events and social media posts over the years found the lawmaker has had long-term associations with White nationalists, a pro-Nazi blogger and right-wing activists. which is right. A spokesman for Gosar declined to comment on specific questions about the congressman’s colleagues in response to the report.
In 2021, Greene apologized for his “offensive” comments comparing Capitol Hill’s mask-wearing rules to the Holocaust after visiting the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Omar, Schiff and Swalwell returned in reaction to McCarthy’s effort to remove them from committee seats.
“Kevin McCarthy’s purely partisan move to remove us from our committee is not only a political stunt, but also an attack on the integrity of our democratic institutions and a threat to our national security,” Omar said in a recent press conference where he spoke with Schiff and Swalwell.
Democrats also argued that the move was hypocritical by pointing to the fact that embattled GOP Rep. George Santos, who is facing mounting legal issues and growing calls to resign because of numerous lies about his resume and identity, was given seats on both committees.
In an abrupt change of course, however, Santos told the House GOP conference Tuesday behind closed doors that he wants to step down from both of his committees until his issues are resolved, said of three CNN members.
McCarthy has the power to unilaterally block Schiff and Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee because it is a select committee. Ousting Omar, however, from the House Foreign Affairs Committee requires a vote of the entire House of Representatives.
McCarthy told CNN Tuesday night that he has the votes to oust Omar. The announcement came after House GOP leaders worked to lock down votes after some members of their conference signaled opposition to the move.
One of the Republicans, Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana announced Tuesday that she was ready to support a resolution to impeach Omar, citing the addition of “due process language.”
“I appreciate Speaker McCarthy’s willingness to address legitimate concerns and add due process language to our resolution. Deliberation and debate are important for our institution, not top-down approaches,” said the congressman in a statement.
Spartz previously said he opposed the effort to remove the three Democratic lawmakers from the committees.
Last week, Spartz released a statement discussing how Democrats kicked out the Greene and Gosar committees. “Two wrongs don’t make a right. Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented action in the last Congress to remove Rep. Greene and Gosar from their committees without due process. Speaker McCarthy has taken unprecedented actions in this Congress to override certain Minority committee assignments without due process again,” the congressman said at the time.
The Democratic-led House voted in 2021 to remove Greene from committee duties after unexplained incendiary and violent past statements, including a report from CNN’s KFile that he repeatedly which showed support for the assassination of prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress. . Eleven House Republicans joined Democrats at the time in supporting the measure.
The Democrat-led House also voted that year to approve a resolution censuring Gosar and stripped him of committee duties in a rebuke of the Arizona Republican for posting a photoshopped anime video on social media. media showing him appearing to assassinate Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacked President Joe Biden. Two House Republicans voted with Democrats at the time to pass the resolution.
This story and headline was updated with additional developments Thursday.
