House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has vowed to block Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from sitting on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. McCarthy insists he wants to remove Omar from the committee because of “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks,” a reference to her using an antisemitic trope and comparing actions by the United States to those of terrorists groups.
Democrats are rallying behind Omar, which could force GOP leaders to rely entirely on their own members if they’re to succeed.
A wild card in the debate remains whether Democrats would vote unanimously to support Omar. The overwhelming majority are expected to do so, putting pressure on McCarthy to rally his own troops. But several Democrats aren’t showing their full support just yet, including Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) and Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), two Jewish lawmakers who represent large Jewish constituencies.
Republicans are focusing on past comments from Omar that have been accused of being antisemitic and anti-Israel. In 2019, for instance, she tweeted that lawmaker support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins, baby” — a remark that sparked immediate condemnation from Democratic leaders and forced Omar to issue an apology.
More recently, she received widespread criticism for equating the U.S. and Israel with the Taliban and Hamas when it comes to human rights abuses.
“It would be odd to me that members would not support [the removal resolution] based upon her comments against Israel,” McCarthy said Tuesday night.
McCarthy began his house-cleaning effort on Tuesday night when he blocked Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence panel, accusing the pair of abusing their positions at risk of national security. Because of the special rules governing the Intel panel, he was able to do so unilaterally.