Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said in a statement on Tuesday that she will back House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s effort to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee after calling the move a “charade” last week and saying she will not support it.
McCarthy pledged to remove Rep. Omar from the House Foreign Affairs committee before he became Speaker over what he calls “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks.”
Such a move would required a vote on the House floor. Spartz threw a wrench in McCarthy’s plan last week when she released a statement vowing to “not support this charade again” and urged McCarthy to “stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing for a change.”
She dropped her opposition to the move on Tuesday after McCarthy included language in the resolution that would allow Omar to make an appeal to the House Ethics Office, which was gutted by McCarthy and Republicans in one of their first acts in the majority.
“I appreciate Speaker McCarthy’s willingness to address legitimate concerns and add due process language to our resolution. Deliberation and debate are vital for our institution, not top-down approaches,” Spartz said in a statement. “The rule of law, freedom of speech, and due process are fundamental to our Constitutional Republic. Our founding fathers understood that pure democracy is dangerous and can lead to the tyranny of majority, mob rule and dictatorship.”
“As to my fellow conservatives, I think setting a precedent of allowing an appeal process for the Speaker’s and majority-party removal decisions is particularly important to freedom-loving legislators who usually are on the receiving end of issues like this,” she added.
At least two other Republicans, Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.) and Nancy Mace (S.C) have said they will not support move. But it’s not clear if they still hold that position.
Meanwhile, McCarthy and other members of Republican House leadership have been telling reporters that they have the votes to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The House plans to vote to remove Omar as soon as Wednesday, according to The Hill.
