The GOP-led House voted on Thursday to boot Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee over his past anti-Semitic comments after two Republicans reluctantly moved to remove him. It was decided to support.
The vote to remove Omar broke along party lines, with 218 Republicans voting to remove him from the assignment and 211 Democrats supporting his colleague. David Joyce of Ohio, a Republican, voted absent.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced the vote Wednesday as the chamber approved Democratic assignments to the Foreign Affairs Committee, setting the stage for the Minnesota lawmaker to be removed from the panel.
“Oh, so now we can vote on it,” McCarthy told reporters after finalizing the assignments.
“We will have enough votes even though there are some members who are unfortunately out for family reasons,” the speaker added.
Two Republicans — Reps. Victoria Spartz of Indiana and Ken Buck of Colorado — joined the effort after McCarthy assured them that he was open to changing the process of removing members from committees in the future.
“What I told her, and I also had this conversation with Victoria, is we want due process. That we’re going to work on the process. I don’t know exactly what that looks like. … Just not going off the top of my head. I want to. I actually want to work with the Democrats on this as well because I think it’s healthy for the institution,” the speaker said.
McCarthy, who last November vowed to remove Omar (D-Minn.) if Republicans win a majority in the House, has already blocked both California Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Sowell from the House Intelligence Committee. are
The move against Omar, one of two Muslim women serving in the House of Somali descent, followed anger from Republicans in the last Congress over Democrats removing Reps. Paul Gosser of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia from their committees. Is.
Omar, 40, once compared Israel to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Taliban, and said the relationship between the Jewish state and the United States is “all about the Benjamins” – even to US lawmakers who say Israel supports, is reimbursed by the American Israel Public. Affairs Committee.
Omar defended himself on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, saying he was unaware of the “trips about Jews and money.”
“I definitely didn’t know or know that the word ‘hypnotize’ is a trope. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. It’s been a very enlightening part of this journey,” he said in the interview.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday evening, Umar urged the members of the House. “Reject” to remove it.
“We cannot go down that road. No member of Congress should be removed from a committee because of allegations of damaging relations with a foreign country. “Members should retain their independence on matters of policy.”
The resolution, proposed by Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), said: “Omar’s comments have brought the House of Representatives into disrepute.”
“Omar clearly cannot be an objective decision-maker on the Foreign Affairs Committee given his prejudices against Israel and the Jewish people,” it said.
Representative Michael McCall, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he supports the resolution.
“It’s just that his worldview on Israel is antithetical to the committee,” the Texas Republican told reporters. “I don’t mind a difference of opinion, but it’s beyond that.”
With post wires
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