Representative Ilhan Omar Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
Republicans are preparing to vote on a resolution to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee as soon as Wednesday after finding a way to bring a key GOP holdover on board.
Why is it important? House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) appears to be on the verge of avoiding another unsettling defeat, weeks after a historic 15-election run for speaker.
- Republicans have been dragging their feet in planning the vote, with three GOP deadlocks and several other absences that put party-line bills well short of the five-vote majority they need to pass.
- Republicans are targeting Omar, a prominent progressive and critic of Israel, over her past anti-Semitic comments. She apologized for some of her tweets in 2019.
driving news; The Constitution Committee met on Tuesday evening to vote on the resolution to remove Omar from its committees this week.
- Rep. Victoria Sparts (R-Ind.), one of three Republicans who planned to vote no on the meeting, said Tuesday she would make the decision after adding language that would allow people to appeal their removal from committees.
- “I appreciate Speaker McCarthy’s willingness to address legitimate concerns and add due process language to our resolution,” he said in a statement.
- Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Axios that Republicans have the votes.
Details: The text of the resolution, introduced Tuesday by Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), states that “any member reserves the right to bring the matter before the Ethics Committee to appeal to the Speaker of the House for reconsideration.” Decision to remove from the committee.
- Miller told Axios that during this process, the ethics committee — which is evenly divided along party lines — “takes the investigation and then makes the decision.”
On the other side: Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, said Republicans would have to change House rules to create that process.
- “They failed to make a recommendation against Omar tomorrow that would involve changing the code of conduct,” she said. “I read the package of rules, there is nothing about that.”
What they say: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told Axios that the language is intended to address the concerns of many members to “make sure there is due process.”
- But not everyone is disturbed. “It’s still ‘no,'” Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) expressed concerns about the partisan tit-for-tat on committee assignments, he told Axios on Tuesday.
- Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), undecided, told Axios last week that his main focus was to give Omar “due process” and “an opportunity to defend what she said.” He said Tuesday that he had not seen the resolution.