House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy hinted that a number of Democrats, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, Maxine Waters, and Eric Swalwell, could be stripped from their committees if Republicans win the majority in 2022 as an answer to Democrats censuring Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and removing him from his committees.
And Gosar and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the other Republican who was stripped from committee assignments by Democrats this year, could be reinstated to even better committee assignments, McCarthy said.
The Republican leader, though, did not confirm specific members who Republicans would take action against. He was careful to not frame the possibility as retaliation.
“[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi has set new policies. Those same members that I talked about in my speech voted for this new policy,” McCarthy told reporters in a press conference on Thursday. “This isn’t about threats, but it’s about holding people accountable.”
KEVIN MCCARTHY: GOSAR CENSURE IS PELOSI ‘BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE ON THE WAY OUT THE DOOR’
“I think the majority is going to have to approve any of those members on the committees of which they can serve,” McCarthy said, hinting that those Democrats would be put up for a vote of the whole House regarding their committee assignments.
In a floor speech on Wednesday before the House voted to censure Gosar, McCarthy argued that the move shows “rules for thee but not for me” among Democrats, bringing up the controversies of specific members, including House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Reps. Waters and Swalwell of California, and Omar of Minnesota.
Waters earlier this year urged Black Lives Matter protesters to become “more confrontational” if police officer Derek Chauvin was not found guilty on all charges for the death of George Floyd, prompting condemnation from the judge in that case.
Jeffries tweeted last week that Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, who is on trial and claiming self-defense, should be imprisoned and never let out despite the trial for the teenager still being underway. McCarthy accused him of “trying to influence a trial that the country is watching.”
Omar has come under wide criticism for making comments that many argue are antisemitic. Republicans have long argued that Swalwell should not sit on the Intelligence Committee because he was found to have been targeted by a suspected Chinese spy. McCarthy has previously said that Omar would not serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee if he were speaker.
As for Greene and Gosar, in the event that Republicans win back the House, McCarthy said: “They’ll have committees, the committee assignment they have now, they may have other committee assignments. They may have better committee assignments. I think with Gosar, those are the ones he wants. Taylor Greene, she was just a freshman. I know she requested others.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed off the suggestion that Republicans could retaliate against Democrats with committee assignments if they win back the majority.
“Is the inference that I draw from your question that we should have not censured Mr. Gosar for his shameful behavior for fear of something the Republicans might do in the unlikely case that they might win the Congress?” Pelosi said in a press conference on Thursday.
Pelosi claimed that it was unlikely that Republicans take back the House in 2022. “We’re not going to walk away from our responsibilities for fear of something they may do in the future,” she said.
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Greene and Gosar did not face consequences for social media posts and alleged threats and conspiracies from within the House Republican conference.
In contrast, House Republicans removed Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney as chairwoman of the Republican conference over her vocal criticism of former President Donald Trump claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.
McCarthy, though, rejected the framing of House Republicans punishing Cheney for criticism of Trump but not internally punishing Gosar and Greene.
“She didn’t get punished for that. She lost an election. I’m sorry. People go up for election all the time. No basis there,” McCarthy said.
