Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said he does not support House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s plan to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs committee.
“I think that we should not engage in this tit for tat,” Buck said on Friday. “I am opposed to the removal of Congresswoman Omar from committees.”
McCarthy pledged to remove Rep. Omar from the House Foreign Affairs committee long before he became Speaker over what he calls “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks.”
McCarthy also promised to block Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee. He followed through earlier this week.
Though McCarthy claims stripping Democrats of their committee assignments is not a political move, it is still largely seen as retaliation for Democrats removing Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) from their committee assignments for advocating violence against Democratic lawmakers, and for then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocking two of McCarthy’s picks from serving on the Jan. 6 committee.
Since the Intel committee is a select panel, McCarthy has the sole authority to determine who gets seated on the committee. However, removing Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee would require a vote of the full House of Representatives which means every Democrat and a handful of Republicans can block the move.
Buck is the third House Republican to say they will oppose McCarthy kicking Omar off the Foreign Affairs committee.
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said she will not support the move.
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” Spartz said in a statement this week. “As I spoke against it on the House floor two years ago, I will not support this charade again.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C) who voted against removing Greene and Gosar from their committees is also not on board with the idea. “I’m going to treat everybody equally. I want to be consistent on it,” she said. “I’m not going to be a hypocrite just because Republicans are in the majority now.”
At least two other Republicans: Reps. David Valadao (Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) are undecided, according to the Hill.
Some Democrats are also undecided. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.Y.) told Jewish Insider that he will wait to see the text of the resolution before making a decision and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said he will wait for the resolution to come to the floor before deciding how to vote.
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