House GOP eyes removing Democratic media stars if in the majority

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Eric Swalwell top the list of Democratic members Republicans want to see removed from their committees if the GOP takes back the House in November 2022.

Frustrated by House Democrats' removal of their own members in recent months, Republicans see Omar of Minnesota and Swalwell of California as choice targets on which to exact revenge.

Omar, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has come under fire over a series of statements about U.S. foreign policy — particularly one that appeared to draw a moral equivalence between U.S., Israeli, and Afghani actions and those taken by the Taliban and Hamas. Omar is a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Education and Labor committees.

Swalwell, meanwhile, is a leading critic of former President Donald Trump, and Republicans say he should be booted from the House Intelligence Committee over reports that an alleged Chinese spy cozied up to him before and during his career in Congress. Swalwell is a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as the Judiciary and Homeland Security panels.

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In 2021, the Democratic majority took the unprecedented step of removing a member of the minority party from committee posts. They did this after Republicans refused to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia of her assignments on the Education and Labor and Budget committees over provocative and threatening comments she made on social media prior to her time as a congressional lawmaker.

Republicans often protest, however, that House Democrats refuse to hold their own members to the same standard, referencing several of Omar’s antisemitic remarks. Even rank-and-file Democrats became incensed over the Minnesota Democrat’s statements comparing Israel and the U.S. to Hamas and the Taliban.

Swalwell, though, might be the first House Democratic lawmaker to be targeted for committee assignment removal if Republicans can reclaim the majority they lost in the 2018 elections. House Republicans would need to net about five seats to win control of the 435-member chamber.

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Rep. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican and the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told the Washington Examiner he could make a “stronger case” to remove Swalwell from his committees.

Banks was one of two Republicans, the other being Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, whom Pelosi rejected from being on the Jan. 6 select committee. That panel is charged with investigating the events leading up to and surrounding the attack on the Capitol, an attempt by Trump supporters to stop the certification of election results in favor of President Joe Biden. Instead, Pelosi appointed two anti-Trump Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

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Tags: News, Congressional Republicans, Democratic Party, Congress, Republican Party, Ilhan Omar, Eric Swalwell, 2022 Elections, Campaigns

Original Author: Kerry Picket

Original Location: House GOP eyes removing Democratic media stars if in the majority