House Could Vote As Early As Wednesday on Kicking Omar Off Committee

GOP leaders in the House are prepared to hold a vote as early as Wednesday on whether to remove U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has vowed to remove Omar from the committee over antisemitic remarks and other controversial comments about Israel. Her removal requires a full vote from the House.

U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, introduced a resolution Tuesday to remove Omar from the committee, claiming her use of antisemitic tropes and anti-Israel rhetoric “make her unfit to be objective in guiding American foreign policy on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”

“Congresswoman Omar clearly cannot be an objective decision-maker on the Foreign Affairs Committee given her biases against Israel and against the Jewish people,” Miller said in a statement on his website.

The Hill reported Tuesday night that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Democrats need to formally submit a resolution about their picks for the committee. Assuming they do that on Tuesday night or Wednesday, a Scalise spokesperson said the GOP is ready to bring up the resolution Wednesday.

Lawmakers such as Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., are against Omar’s removal. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Tuesday he is undecided. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., was against it too, but changed her mind after McCarthy agreed to add language to the resolution allowing Omar to appeal to the House Ethics Committee if she is removed.

“I think setting a precedent of allowing an appeal process for the speaker’s and majority party removal decisions is particularly important to freedom-loving legislators who usually are on the receiving end of issues like this,” Spartz said in a statement on her website.

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