WASHINGTON ― Republicans began the process Wednesday to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The House approved a procedural motion to vote on the final option to initiate Omar on Thursday.
The move is retaliation for Democrats who have removed Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from the committee in 2021 for allegedly threatening colleagues.
Republicans have called Omar an antisemite because he criticized US foreign policy toward Israel.
“We’ve all seen the quotes and things he’s said over and over again as a member of Congress that would make a big deal if he were on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), No. 2 House Republican, said this week.
Omar told HuffPost that Republicans are targeting him just because he is Muslim, although his past statements have sparked a bipartisan backlash. they sorry in 2019 for having suggested support for Israel among his friends for whom he was solicited for campaign contributions.
Then, Omar drew another round of criticism to suggest the Israel lobby is pushing for “dual loyalty” to Israel; The House later approved a resolution condemning “the perpetuation of antisemitic stereotypes in the United States and around the world, including the destructive myth of dual allegiance and foreign allegiance.”
The resolution also condemned “anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities,” and the only lawmakers who abstained were 23 Republicans.
The text of the resolution for the vote at the end of this week says that “Omar, in his own words, has withdrawn himself from serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee, a panel that countries around the world see as speaking for Congress on matters of international importance and national security.” “
The resolution addresses Omar’s past controversial statements, angry responses from Democrats, as well as accusations that Omar downplayed the September 11 attacks, and in 2021 suggested a false equivalency between the US, Israel, Hamas and the Taliban. It eliminates him apologizing.
Republicans have made little effort to hide the fact that they are retaliating to remove Greene and Gosar from the committee in 2021. (House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has removed Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell from the intelligence committee House.)
“This is raw politics,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Tuesday. “We will not disarm unilaterally.”
Despite the appearance of symmetry, Omar’s efforts to correct offensive comments stand in stark contrast to Greene and Gosar’s struggles in the face of bipartisan criticism. At February 2021 floor speech, he admits “school shootings are real” and “9/11 really happened” but doesn’t apologize for it advocating physical violence against Democrats.
McCarthy brought Greene back to the committee this month, and his first statement from the House Oversight dais lionized a mob of rioters shot by Capitol police for trying to enter an inner chamber of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Republicans advanced an anti-Omar resolution Wednesday despite some grumbling from members of their own party. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) told HuffPost earlier this week that Republicans should not punish Omar just because Democrats punished Greene and Gosar.
“Someone has to grow up in the room,” Spartz said. Republican leaders upset Spartz by adding language to Omar’s resolution saying he could appeal to the ethics committee, though it would not restore the committee’s role.