(RepublicanDaily.org) – The House of Representatives passed a resolution on February 2 to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, The New York Times reported. Representative Omar has been officially removed from the panel after a 218 to 211 vote along party lines. Media reports called the move a “highly politicized” vote.
House Republicans said they took the action because of Omar’s history of “antisemitic and anti-American” rhetoric and stated they were being “consistent” with House committee removal protocols, Fox News reported.
The resolution was sponsored by Representative Max Miller (R. Ohio), who is Jewish, The Hill reported. Miller, along with the voting Republicans, argued that Omar had “disqualified herself” from her place on the foreign affairs panel because of her antisemitic remarks.
In a defense of herself during House debates, Omar said that the GOP had targeted her because she was a “Muslim immigrant” who is “from Africa,” The Hill reported. Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, a country in eastern Sub-Saharan Africa. Omar questioned whether the Republicans removed her because she was a “powerful voice” that “needed to be silenced.”
Omar’s removal follows last year’s decision to remove Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from committee assignments in response to their social media posts that reportedly endorsed violence against Democrats.
Media reports claim that the vote to remove Omar is motivated by political revenge for the removal of the Republican representatives. At the time Green and Gosar were removed, incumbent House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had made a statement he would act to remove Omar, along with Democratic Representatives Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff from committee assignments. Since assuming the speaker’s office, McCarthy has motioned to remove Omar, Swalwell, and Schiff.
Omar’s removal incited heated criticism from Democrats. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that there was nothing “consistent” about the Republican agenda in the House except to incite “racism” and “violence against women of color in this (the House) body.”
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