House GOP Remove Ilhan Omar From Foreign Affairs Panel

The House of Representatives, controlled by a narrow Republican majority, voted to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the Foreign Affairs Panel Committee as Democrats shouted "racism."

Republican lawmakers in the House argued that the decision was made over Omar's past comments about Israel that were widely condemned as antisemitic. However, this comes as GOP members are generally silent about antisemitic comments of their colleagues, some of whom have associated with Holocaust deniers.

House GOP Ousts Ilhan Omar

The vote ended 218 to 211, where one House member voted "present" and came similarly to how Democrats previously stripped Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of their committee assignments. That decision was made over social media posts of the latter two, where they endorsed violence against members of the Democratic Party.

At the time, Kevin McCarthy, who has now become the House Speaker, said that Republicans would take revenge by removing Democrats whom the GOP sees as unfit to serve on committees. He unilaterally removed California Reps. As per the New York Times, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence last week.

McCarthy's decision to oust Omar, a decision that some of his rank-and-file resisted, demonstrates his unrelenting determination to shore up support from the hard-right Republican base. It comes after former United States President Donald Trump in 2019 said that Omar and three other progressive women of color should return to their home countries despite the representative being born in the US.

The Thursday vote was also McCarthy's attempt to curry favor with pro-Israel groups and evangelical votes while also taking revenge on Democrats. Omar drew criticism in 2019 from both sides of the government after tweeting that certain pro-Israel groups were "all about the Benjamins, baby."

The statement appeared to reference hundred-dollar bills in what was viewed as invoking an antisemitic trope about Jews and money. Later on, the representative apologized for her comment. She also received criticism for seemingly equating "atrocities" carried out by the US military actions committed by terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban.

Republicans' Political Revenge

Ahead of the vote, Omar made a defiant speech on the floor, saying that her leadership and voice would not be reduced if she was removed from the committee. According to CNN, she argued that her voice would only get louder and stronger as time went by.

In a statement, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries liked the decision to Republicans seeking "political revenge." He said he would immediately move to set Omar on the House Budget Committee, where she will defend Democratic values against right-wing extremism.

Republicans argued that the oust of Omar was them being consistent with past practices, a claim that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has dismissed. She said the only thing constant about the GOP's attack is racism and incitement of violence against women of color.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York questioned why Omar was only being targeted now and wondered what reasons the GOP had for removing her from committee assignments. He argued that if she was on the other side of the government, she would not face such persecution, said Fox News.