House Speaker McCarthy Delivers on Promise to Remove Rep. Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee

Ilhan Omar | Source: commons.wikimedia.org

On Thursday, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) removed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee after her long history of anti-Semitism. 218 Republicans voted in favor of the motion, while 3 did not vote and 1, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), voted “present”.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has praised the move in a statement saying: “For years, Democratic leadership has failed to hold Rep. Ilhan Omar accountable for her vile, hateful, and dangerous anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Today, Republicans, under Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership, kept their promise to remove Rep. Omar from the prestigious and crucially important House Foreign Affairs Committee.


The statement went on to say, “RJC has long advocated for Rep. Omar’s removal from this critical committee. We are gratified that Rep. Omar will no longer be in a privileged position to influence legislation regarding US policy toward Israel and the Middle East.”

McCarthy had vowed to strip Omar, along with Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, of their committee assignments if Republicans regained the majority in the House of Representatives. McCarthy argued that Democrats had set a “new standard” when they removed Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committees due to violent rhetoric and posts.