U.S. House Democrats aim to punish lawmaker Greene as Republican leaders yet to take action

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday advanced legislation to remove Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene from two high-profile House committees after her own party showed no sign of taking any punitive action. The House Rules Committee cleared the way for the full House to debate Greene's fate on Thursday with Democrats who control the chamber seeking to punish her for incendiary comments including support for violence against Democrats.

Greene in the past has propagated a series of unfounded conspiracy theories and has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump's false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday condemned her comments. But in a statement he said Democrats' effort to remove her from the Education and Labor and Budget Committees was a distraction and deepened divisions.

House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, a Democrat, said Greene had "doubled down" rather than apologize for her remarks. "Anybody who advocates assassinations of members of Congress or anybody, I don't believe should enjoy the privilege of serving on a committee," he said.

McGovern said his personal opinion was that Greene should either resign or be expelled from Congress, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement criticizing McCarthy's "cowardly refusal to deal with Greene." Last week, CNN reported that Greene had supported calls for violence against Democratic lawmakers, including Pelosi.

Representative Tom Cole, the senior Republican on the Rules panel, called Greene's remarks "extraordinarily disturbing." But he and other committee Republicans said Democrats should not be deciding the committee assignments of their party. As the Rules Committee debated Greene's fate, Republicans huddled behind closed doors to discuss the thorny situation that has divided the Republican Party.

The 211 rank-and-file Republicans in the 435-seat House also argued over whether to punish party establishment lawmaker Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, who last month voted to impeach the Republican Trump. SENDING A POWERFUL MESSAGE

If Republicans choose to strip Cheney of her leadership role while rewarding Greene with high-profile committee assignments, they would send a powerful message about the party's future and, potentially, that of Trump within it. McCarthy defended Cheney, telling reporters on Wednesday: "People can have differences of opinion," adding, "Liz has a right to vote her conscience."

Next Tuesday, the U.S. Senate is due to begin Trump's impeachment trial on a House charge of inciting the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by his followers in which five people died and members of Congress scrambled to safety. Cheney, who heads the House Republican Conference, was the highest ranking Republican in the House to vote to impeach Trump after the attack on Capitol Hill.

Greene has faced bipartisan criticism, including from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who warned against "loony lies and conspiracy theories" that he said "are a cancer for the Republican Party and our country." Last week, CNN reported that she had also approved of calls for violence against Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

McCarthy is being pulled in opposite directions from members of his rank-and-file, who have been riven for months over Trump's insistence, without evidence, that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him. "I'm the Democrat mob's public enemy number one," Greene said in a tweet on Tuesday.

House Rules Committee Democrats rejected an effort by Republican Representative Brian Babin to leave Greene unscathed and instead strip Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of her committee assignments. Republicans cited Omar, a Somali-born Muslim, for controversial statements viewed as anti-Semitic.

Omar, 38, has apologized for some of her remarks and on Wednesday issued a statement accusing Republicans of a "desperate smear rooted in racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia" to try to "distract" from the Greene controversy. Greene, 46, is a political newcomer who took office just last month while Cheney, 54 and the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, served in Republican administrations before first winning election to Congress in 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)