Though House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has kept his promise to kick Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. Adam Schiff off the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, things are a bit more complicated when it comes to Rep. Ilhan Omar. That’s because the Speaker doesn’t have unilateral authority over non-select committees, meaning any removal will take a full vote of the House.
Omar, a notorious anti-Semite who has continuously supported policies that empower terrorist regimes, served on the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee under the last congress. That she was placed there at all despite her lack of experience was already unusual, and Omar’s radicalism only made the appointment all the worse.
Still, Republicans weren’t of the mind to remove Omar until Rep. Nancy Pelosi, joined by other Democrats, kicked two Republicans off their committees for supposed inflammatory comments. Obviously, that set the precedent that the majority party could punish bad actors from the minority party for the things they say. Omar fits that bill perfectly given her history of antisemitism.
Unfortunately, while McCarthy is trying to whip support to send the Minnesota congresswoman to a lesser committee, the Republican calvary has arrived to once again save Democrats from the consequences of their own actions.
As RedState reported, Rep. Nancy Mace has already expressed her displeasure with removing Omar. She’s not the only one, though. Other GOP members are going to bat for a woman who would just as well see Israel destroyed and Republicans sent to camps if she had her way.
WATCH: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) says Republicans should not engage in a “tit-for-tat” when it comes to committee selections.@RepKenBuck: “I am opposed to the removal of Congresswoman Omar from committees.” pic.twitter.com/dyfktK7wsb
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 27, 2023
There are several problems here. Framing Omar’s possible ouster as a “tit-for-tat” ignores that she is an actual anti-Semite. Are there no standards that Buck would like to uphold for members of congress? Further, Omar would still be allowed to serve on other committees.
That means things wouldn’t even reach the level of what happened to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was stripped of all her committee assignments by Democrats. And while Greene was apologetic, even visiting the Holocaust museum after her “Jewish space lasers” silliness, Omar and her party still pretend to this day as if she did nothing wrong.
Despite that, Buck and others are rushing in to stop any accountability from taking place, and by the looks of things (National Review), there will be enough votes to pull Omar back from the abyss.
Buck is at least the second Republican congressman to express opposition to Omar’s ouster.
Representative Victoria Spartz (R., Ind.) said earlier this week, “Two wrongs do not make a right. As I spoke against it on the House floor two years ago, I will not support this charade again.”
Other Republicans have said they are undecided on whether to support the move, including Representatives Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) and David Valadao (R., Calif.), while Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) has not publicly revealed how he plans to vote.
The Republican Party remains a useless, spineless husk, and for once, it’s not the fault of the leadership. McCarthy and his top lieutenants are doing everything they can to hold Omar to the standard Democrats instituted. Unfortunately, there’s a delusional segment of the GOP caucus that believes unilateral disarmament will result in the return of a utopian era of decorum and norms.
To be frank, that’s insanely naive. Democrats are not going to call the dogs off the next time they regain power, and given how the 2022 election went, they could retake the House as soon as 2024. Republicans are already running out of time. To see some ready to preemptively surrender is frustrating, and I know it’s going to do nothing to instill confidence in GOP voters.
Story cited here.
