According to the Washington Examiner, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claims that some House Republicans have privately assured her that they will not vote to remove her from the Foreign Affairs committee.
This comes as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is leading an effort to do just that – to remove Omar from her committee assignment.
What’s going on?
McCarthy, here, is following the precedent set by his predecessor – former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – who, in the last congress, removed several Republicans from their committee assignments.
McCarthy is looking to return the favor, and he has targeted three congress members: U.S. Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
McCarthy has already removed Swalwell and Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee, something that he, as House Speaker, has the authority to do unilaterally. He did so because of Swalwell’s ties to a Chinese spy and Schiff’s misleading of the American public with the Russia-Trump collusion narrative.
McCarthy wants to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs committee because of the frequent anti-Israel statements that she has made.
McCarthy, however, doesn’t have the power to do this unilaterally – a floor vote is required. And, it appears that a number of House Republicans are opposed to the idea of voting Omar off of the committee.
GOP support for Omar?
Over the weekend, reports emerged indicating that several House Republicans plan to vote against removing Omar from her committee assignment.
According to a separate report from the Examiner, there are at least three Republican “no” votes so far. They are U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), and Nancy Mace (R-SC).
All three have criticized McCarthy’s attempt to remove Omar from the committee, describing it as an act of “political vengeance.” Buck, for example, made his position on the matter known during an appearance Friday on NBC’s Meet the Press. There, he said:
I think that we should not engage in this tit-for-tat. I am opposed to the removal of congresswoman Omar from committees.
Private assurances
On Sunday, during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Omar claimed that, in addition to the Republicans listed above, others have privately assured her that they will not vote to oust her from her committee assignment.
“I hope that they keep their word,” Omar said.
If they do keep their word, then it appears that McCarthy will not have the votes to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs committee. McCarthy only has a 5-vote margin, and with three “no” votes and with U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) being unable to vote because he is recovering from an injury, Omar only needs one more “no” vote from House Republicans.
Accordingly, it is looking as though Omar is likely to be saved from being ousted by Republicans. Who would have thought it?
