House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is leading the fight for Republicans to remove Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and two other Democrats from seats on significant committees in the House.
Omar, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has long been targeted by McCarthy, who believes her “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks” would not be conducive to the Committee.
The 40-year-old Somalian-born politician fired back at the newly elected Speaker, accusing him of intensifying bombast rhetoric aimed at marginalized constituents.
“McCarthy’s effort to repeatedly single me out for scorn and hatred – including threatening to strip me from my committee – does nothing to address the issues our constituents deal with,” she said in a statement. “It does nothing to address inflation, healthcare, or solve the climate crisis.”
She continued: “What it does is gin up fear and hate against Somali-Americans and anyone who shares my identity, and further divide us along racial and ethnic lines,” she said.
The Hill reported last November that McCarthy was rigorously working to have her removed from her committee post even before he was named Speaker of the House.
“From the moment I was elected, the Republican Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads,” the Democratic Congresswoman said in a statement at the time.
“Whether it is Marjorie Taylor Greene holding a gun next to my head in campaign ads or Donald Trump threatening to ‘send me back’ to my country (despite the fact that I have been a proud citizen of the United States for more than 20 years), this constant stream of hate has led to hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family,” she continued.
On a Fox News segment Sunday, McCarthy vowed that in addition to Omar, he planned to remove Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), from their committees.
Republicans took control of the House earlier this year after a back-and-forth debacle ensued in the 118th Congress, paralyzing the House from conducting business for the country. It took 15 rounds of voting before McCarthy clinched the Speaker role.
It is unclear when he plans to have Omar officially removed from her committee post.
