House Votes To Remove Ilhan Omar From House Foreign Affairs Committee

Topline

The House voted Thursday to eject Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee over controversial tweets about Israel, fulfilling House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)’s promise to oust her and two other Democrats from their committees after the previously Democratic-controlled House removed two Republicans from committees in 2021.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 26: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks during a news conference marking the 6th … [+] anniversary of the Trump administration’s Executive Order 13769, also known as the Muslim ban, outside the U.S. Capitol on January 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. On January 27, 2017, President Trump enacted the ban, stopping people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

The House voted 218-211 on party lines on a resolution to eject Omar, with one member, Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), voting present.

The resolution cited Omar’s 2019 tweet suggesting the U.S.’s relationship with Israel is “all about the Benjamins,” a comment many lawmakers from both parties criticized as an antisemitic trope, but Democrats view the move as revenge for the Democratic-controlled House’s decision in 2021 to remove Republican Reps. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) from their committees over a string of incendiary rhetoric.

In January last year, McCarthy first vowed to remove Omar, along with Democratic California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff from their committees, citing the decision to oust Greene and Gosar.

Last month, McCarthy blocked Schiff and Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, which is known as a select committee, or a temporary committee, but the decision to remove Omar required a vote of the majority of the House since she serves on a permanent committee.

Crucial Quote

“The way that we see this, it’s a political stunt, much like House Republicans’ unjust removal of other leading Democrats from key committees in recent weeks, and it is a disservice to the American people,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday, adding that Omar is a “highly respected member of Congress” and has apologized for her past statements.

Contra

Some Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, made clear they did not agree with Omar’s 2019 comments about Israel when explaining their reasoning for voting against the resolution. Jeffries acknowledged that Omar “certainly has made mistakes” and “used antisemitic tropes.” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) voted against the resolution “not in support of Congresswoman Omar,” but “to protect the institution, for democracy and for preventing the weaponization of committee selection,” he said, adding that “someone with her record of hateful comments does not belong on the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” CNN reported.

Key Background

McCarthy insisted to reporters Thursday that removing Omar was not “tit for tat,” referring to the Democratic-controlled House’s decision to remove Greene and Gosar in 2021 from their committees. In removing Greene from the Budget and Education and Labor Committees in February that year, the House cited social media activity in which she appeared to endorse QAnon and other conspiracies, including questioning whether a plane hit the Pentagon on September 11 and suggesting the 2018 Parkland school shooting was staged. The House voted to remove Gosar from the Oversight and Reform and Natural Resources Committees in November 2021 after he posted a cartoon video that depicted him attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and President Joe Biden. The House, which flipped to Republican control in the midterm election, reappointed Greene and Gosar in January to the the Homeland Security and Natural Resources Committees, respectively.

Tangent

In the weeks leading up to the vote, at least four Republicans expressed concerns that removing Omar from her committee would continue a new precedent set by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of ejecting members across party lines. Prior to the 2021 decisions to remove Greene and Gosar, the party-specific steering committees were responsible for ousting members from committees as punishment. At least one of the Republicans who said they were hesitant about removing Omar, Rep. Victoria Spartz (Ind.), announced earlier this week that she would vote in favor of the resolution after the inclusion of a provision that allows Omar to appeal the decision to the House Ethics Committee. McCarthy said Thursday he and Jeffries are considering a new process for removing members from committees.