House Republicans voted after a raucous debate Thursday to oust Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the chamber’s major Foreign Affairs Committee, citing her anti-Israel comments, in a dramatic escalation of tensions after Democrats last session booted far-right GOP lawmakers from committees over incendiary, violent remarks.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was able to solidify Republican support against the Somali-born Muslim woman in the new Congress although some GOP lawmakers had expressed reservations. Removal of lawmakers from House committees was essentially unprecedented until the Democratic ousters two years ago of hard-right Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona.
The 218-211 vote, mostly along party lines, came after a heated, voices-raised debate in which Democrats accused the GOP of targeting Omar based on her race. Omar defended herself on the House floor, asking if anyone was surprised she was being targeted, “because when you push power, power pushes back.” Democratic colleagues hugged and embraced their colleague during the vote.
“My voice will get louder and stronger, and my leadership will be celebrated around the world,” Omar said in a closing speech.
Omar has spoken out in support of Palestinian people who are often subjected to violence due to the ongoing conflict with Israel. She’s related it to her own experience living through a violent civil war that killed many of her family and friends.
“I can still remember at just eight years old, hiding under the bed, hearing bombs go off outside my window, wondering if we were going to be hit next. It is trauma I will live with for the rest of my life,” she said on the House floor in 2021.
Republicans focused on six statements Omar has made that “under the totality of the circumstances, disqualify her from serving on the Committee of Foreign Affairs,” said Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss.
“All members, both Republicans and Democrats alike who seek to serve on Foreign Affairs, should be held to the highest standard of conduct due to the international sensitivity and national security concerns under the jurisdiction of this committee,” Guest said.
The resolution proposed by Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a former official in the Trump administration, declared, “Omar’s comments have brought dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said that the GOP’s action was one of the “disgusting legacies after 9/11,” a reference to he Sept. 11, 2001, attack — “the targeting and racism against Muslim-Americans throughout the United States of America. And this is an extension of that legacy.”
She added, “This is about targeting women of color.”
Omar is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. She is also the first to wear a hijab in the House chamber after floor rules were changed to allow members to wear head coverings for religious reasons.
She quickly generated controversy after entering Congress in 2019 with a pair of tweets that suggested lawmakers who supported Israel were motivated by money.
In the first, she criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she wrote, invoking slang about $100 bills.
Asked on Twitter who she though was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Omar responded, “AIPAC!”
The comments sparked a public rebuke from then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who made clear that Omar had overstepped.
She soon apologized.
“We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me about my identity,” Omar tweeted. “This is why I unequivocally apologize.”
Omar’s tweets were among several remarks highlighted in the resolutions seeking her removal from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The chairman of the committee, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, argued for excluding Omar from the panel during a recent closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans.
“It’s just that her worldview of Israel is so diametrically opposed to the committee’s,” McCaul told reporters in describing his stance. “I don’t mind having differences of opinion, but this goes beyond that.”
McCarthy has already blocked Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both California Democrats, from rejoining the House Intelligence Committee once the GOP took control of the chamber in January. While appointments to the intelligence panel are the prerogative of the speaker, the action on Omar requires a House vote.
At a press conference on Thursday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called it a “double standard.”
“Omar certainly has made mistakes,” Jeffries told reporters. “She has used antisemitic tropes that were clearly and unequivocally condemned by House Democrats when it took place four years ago.”
“But what’s going to take place on the floor today is not a public policy debate,” he continued. “It’s not about accountability. It’s about political revenge.”
Fellow Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips took to the House floor on Wednesday to defend his fellow Gopher State Democrat. Phillips, who is Jewish, acknowledged that Omar’s comments “have caused concern, offense, and even personal pain,” but said that she has apologized and “continues to learn from those missteps.”
He went on to turn it back on his Republican colleagues, criticizing them for spreading conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric.
“Being a conspiracy theorist alone is not grounds for removal from committees, I’ll admit that, but depicting violence or supporting violence against fellow members of Congress is grounds for removal, be it a Democrat or a Republican,” he continued. “But no one, no one has accused Rep. Omar of depicting or supporting violence against anyone in this chamber.”
“So why will 90% of Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives vote to maintain her committee assignment? Quite simply, because we believe in the human capacity to learn from mistakes,” Phillips added.
Several Republicans skeptical of removing Omar wanted “due process” for lawmakers who face removal. McCarthy said he told them he would work with Democrats on creating a due process system, but acknowledged it’s still a work in progress.
