Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said she will not back House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s effort to remove Democrats from their committees.
McCarthy pledged to remove Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff (Calif.) Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Eric Swalwell (Calif.) from their committees before he was elected Speaker in retaliation for House Democrats stripping GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) of their committee assignments for threatening Democratic lawmakers.
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” Spartz said in a statement on Tuesday. “Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process. Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the Minority without proper due process again.”
“As I spoke against it on the House floor two years ago, I will not support this charade again,” she added. “Speaker McCarthy needs to stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing for a change.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y) appointed both Schiff and Swalwell to the House Intelligence committee last week. Omar has signalled she wants to sit on the House Foreign Affairs committee, according to CNN.
Since the Intelligence panel is a select committee, McCarthy has the power to unilaterally deny any member a place 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 four Republicans can block the move.
Spartz is the second Republican to say she will oppose the effort to kick Omar off the Foreign Affairs committee.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who voted against removing Greene and Gosar from their committees told CNN that, “I’m going to treat everybody equally. I want to be consistent on it.”
[Image: J. Scott Applewhite/Pool via Reuters]
