McCarthy makes vow to kick Swalwell, Schiff, and Omar from committees, saying, “I’ll keep that promise”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R. CA) recently told Fox News if he is elected Speaker of the House now that Republicans have won back the House majority, he plans to keep his vow of booting top Democrats from from serving on house committees.
via Twitter
McCarthy told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo specifically that Reps. Ilhan Omar (D. MN), Eric Swalwell (D. CA) and Adam Schiff (D. CA) will be removed from their respective committees if he becomes Speaker of the House in January, 2023:
“I’ll keep that promise. I will not allow [Swalwell] to be on Intel. You have Adam Schiff who had lied to the American public time and time again. We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either.”
McCarthy also implied that Rep. Omar was too antisemitic to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and defended removing Democrats from committees as standing up for America’s “Freedom.”
Kevin McCarthy, via Flickr / Gage Skidmore https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Many critics believe that McCarthy’s vow is nothing but retribution for Democrats removing controversial imbecile Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R. GA) from her committees in 2021.
“I suspect he will do whatever Marjorie Taylor Greene wants him to do. He is a very weak leader of his conference, meaning that he will adhere to the wishes of the lowest common denominator. And if that lowest common denominator wants to remove people from committees, that’s what they’ll do.”
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The path to the Speakership is not an easy one for McCarthy, however, with The Hill pointing out that he has “a math problem” in his way:
“He won the House GOP’s nomination to be Speaker this week in a 188-31 vote.
But far more GOP members voted against him than he can afford to lose on the floor Jan. 3 in a vote that would officially elect him Speaker. A vocal faction of Republicans who have the potential to make or break his Speakership continue to withhold support.
Recent 2022 election projections put Republicans on track to win up to 222 seats, a much slimmer majority than they were expecting before Election Day. Just a handful of Republican defectors could sink McCarthy.”
