Ilhan Omar. AP.
Republican lawmakers are seeking to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
House Republicans are targeting Omar for her past criticism of Israel.
- House
Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trying to strengthen a Republican effort to
remove Somali-born Omar from the committee in a vote on Thursday.
- Chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul pushed for Omar
to be barred from the panel during a recent Republican meeting.
- He
said "her worldview of Israel," is "so diametrically opposed to the
committee’s,” that it goes beyond "differences of opinion."
- In 2019, Omar suggested that pro-Israel groups were pushing U.S. lawmakers to take a pledge of "allegiance to a foreign country." Omar later apologized for the comments.
- Democrats
are "united" in their support for Omar remaining on the Foreign Affairs
Committee, according to Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the
committee.
- Omar said the GOP is motivated by "revenge" after Democratic lawmakers removed far-right Republicans Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar from their committees in 2021.
- Removing lawmakers from their House committees was an unprecedented act until Greene and Gosar were ousted.
- McCarthy
said that he will work with Democrats to establish a due process system
for removing lawmakers from their committees in the future.
