McCarthy responded “yes” when questioned by Media correspondent Manu Raju if the GOP possesses the votes necessary to keep Omar off the committee.
Before McCarthy became the speaker, he promised to fulfill a campaign promise to remove Reps. Ilhan Omar and Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, respectively.
Earlier this month, McCarthy fulfilled a part of his promise by formally expelling Schiff and Swalwell from their positions on the House Intel Committee.
McCarthy’s attempt to remove Omar from office was met with resistance from several fellow House Republicans concerned about the lack of due process and the example it would set.
Only a handful of Republicans in the House could prevent McCarthy from removing Omar from her committee position, as the Democrats hold a slim five-vote majority.
Republican Florida State Representative Matt Gaetz has voiced alarm over McCarthy’s action. Three Republican congresswomen, Ken Buck (CO), Nancy Mace (SC), and Victoria Spartz (IN), have all spoken out against the decision to expel Omar. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) was injured in an accident; thus, the Republicans in the House are one vote down until he recovers.
On the other hand, Spartz decided to back the resolution to boot Omar from the committee on Tuesday. McCarthy’s inclusion of wording allowing members to appeal their removal from committees in the solution to remove Omar changed Spartz’s mind.
Conservatives, like Spartz, “are normally on the receiving end of issues like these, therefore it’s vital to set a precedent of allowing an appeal mechanism for the Speaker’s and majority-party removal decisions,” she said in a statement proclaiming her support for the motion.
In addition, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told Axios on Tuesday that the GOP has the votes to oust Omar.
Because of her history of antisemitic comments, McCarthy wanted to have Omar removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In keeping with the terms of the resolution,
On February 10, 2019, Representative Ilhan Omar used an anti-Semitic cliche when she said, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby,” about Jewish people and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Omar claimed ignorance of Jewish affluence stereotypes.
She continued, saying that she either did not know or did not care that the word “hypnotized” was a cliche. She continued, noting that learning there are stereotypes associated with Jews and wealth has been an eye-opening part of her journey.
Omar has been in the middle of numerous controversies, with claims that she is antisemitic and anti-American being brought up against her time and time again.
In June, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) criticized the “squad” member, saying she was unsuitable to serve in Congress because she compared the United States and Israel to Hamas terrorists and the Taliban.
Raju has reported that Tuesday’s House Rules Committee hearing will be held under “emergency” rules, allowing the committee to “proceed in an expedited pace” in considering the proposal to remove Omar.
The vote to dismiss Omar from her committee position may likely happen as soon as this week.