House Republicans advanced a resolution seeking the removal of remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee. The measure is now being sent to the floor for further debate. This is one more step towards Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) goal of having Omar removed from office. This is an action that Omar had previously pledged he would take.
The House has already approved a rule that would allow the chamber to start debating whether or not Omar would be removed. The vote for the rule fell along partisan lines in a 218-209 vote.
While the House Republicans have not yet disclosed exactly when they would bring the Omar resolution to the floor, the Democrats are still preparing to go on the offensive with a separate resolution that could help Omar officially gain a seat on the panel.
McCarthy has also not had the desired support within his conference to have Omar removed. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) however did tell reporters that the Republican leadership had enough votes to remove Omar from the panel.
The GOP also managed to pass the resolution only after Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) flipped his vote, having previously been opposed to the resolution.
On Wednesday night, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) also changed her stance, supporting the resolution that she had at first opposed.
The resolution released on Tuesday noted that any member would have “the right to bring a case before the Committee on Ethics as grounds for an appeal to the Speaker of the House for reconsideration of any committee removal decision.”
