House Republicans are already facing defections over a leadership push to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar from her committees. Democrats plan to make the vote even more painful.
The Minnesota Democrat and her caucus allies have begun to mount a robust defense of the progressive “squad” member, who Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his allies have repeatedly threatened to kick off committees once the GOP took over the House. While they’ve focused on Omar’s past comments about Israel — some of which divided her own party at the time — Republicans loudly protested last Congress when Democrats booted a pair of conservatives from committees.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans have claimed that Ms Omar should lose her seat on the panel due to her criticism of the Israeli government and its influence in Washington, saying it amounts to antisemitism.
But Ms Omar, a Somali immigrant of Muslim faith who has denied knowingly making knowingly antisemitic comments in the past, has argued that the push to remove her is rooted in racism, Islamophobia and House GOP bigotry.
“It is politically motivated,” Ms Omar said during a Sunday appearance on CNN. “In some cases, it’s motivated by the fact that many of these members don’t believe a Muslim, a refugee, an African should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”
