Another Republican appears to have abandoned Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in his quest to remove Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from her prestigious committee spot.
Ken Buck (R-CO) told Meet the Press on Friday that he doesn’t think the speaker should be punishing Omar as a response to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi removing Republicans from their committees in the last Congress.
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“I think that we should not engage in this tit for tat,” Buck said. “I am opposed to the removal of congresswoman Omar from committees.”
McCarthy promised to boot Omar as well as his fellow Californians, Reps. Eric Swalwell (D) and Adam Schiff (D) from their respective committees if he earned the speaker’s gavel. After a bruising 15-ballot saga that resulted in his earning the top spot in the House, he made good and removed Swalwell and Schiff from their posts on the Intelligence Committee.
But he’s having more trouble flexing his muscle in removing Omar.
Unlike Intelligence, seats on the Foreign Affairs Committee, on which Omar serves, are not decided unilaterally by the speaker. To remove a representative from standing committees, the House must take a floor vote.
Buck represents what appears to be a third “no” vote on the question of removing Omar, leaving McCarthy with just one more abdication to spare.
Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) have already indicated they aren’t going to join the committee wars, and other Republicans have been noncommittal.
“Two wrongs do not make a right. Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process. Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the minority without proper due process again,” Spartz said in a statement Tuesday.
Republicans have had Omar’s committee assignments in their sights almost since she joined Congress. In particular, her criticisms of Israel, which some have argued have crossed the line into blatant antisemitism, have riled members.
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While McCarthy is struggling to solidify votes, at least in public, those charges of antisemitism might sway some Democrats to turn on one of their own.
Reps. Josh Gotteheimer (D-NY), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), and Lois Frankel (D-FL) have not committed to how they would vote on removing Omar, according to Jewish Insider.
