House Republicans Have the Votes to Boot Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee

It is possible that a vote could be held as soon as today to decide whether Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, will be seated on House Foreign Affairs Committee. Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Axios reported that Republicans now have the votes, after Rep. Victoria Spartz (R.IN) agreed to vote for the resolution.

A humiliating defeat for Speaker McCarthy could be avoided by McCarthy With such a razor-thin Republican majority in the House, McCarthy’s ability to pass the resolution depends on his ability to keep Republicans united. The vote on the resolution to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee ran into trouble when Rep. Victoria Spartz said she would not vote yes on the resolution because two wrongs don’t make a right. She didn’t approve of Pelosi’s behavior when she removed Republicans from committees over statements they made. Spartz also said she didn’t approve of McCarthy removing Democrats from committees.

Before Spartz announced her no vote, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said earlier this month that she probably won’t back a measure to oust Omar if it comes to the floor for a vote. Rep. Greg Steube, R-FL, fell off a ladder while working on a home project. He will be back home in a few weeks to recover from his injuries. McCarthy ended proxy voting within the House that Pelosi implemented during the pandemic. The House was then left in place well past its alleged time. So, if Steube isn’t in D.C. and able to vote in person, McCarthy can’t count on his vote.

On Monday, I wrote Rep. Ken Buck of R-CO We would vote NO on the resolution. He would like to see both sides of the aisle work together in a more kumbaya style. That sounds nice in theory but that isn’t the reality in the House. It is unlikely that Democrats will be able to play nice with Republicans, no matter how much they give.

McCarthy would need to be the head of the table if she wanted to get enough votes to pass this resolution with a five-member majority. Omar, despite her anti-Semitic comments, seemed likely to be able stay on the committee. Yesterday. Today is the day.

Axios reported Tuesday night, the Rules Committee met to discuss the resolution. It was set for a vote in Congress this week. Spartz on Tuesday stated that language had been added in the resolution that allows members of committees to appeal against their removal. Scalise was certain McCarthy had the votes necessary to pass the resolution, so Republicans can stop stalling and bring the resolution up for a vote. Spartz said, “I appreciate Speaker McCarthy’s willingness to address legitimate concerns and add due process language to our resolution.”

Is it possible that her angry constituents in Indiana might have called her to express their dissatisfaction with her decision not to vote before she decided to vote yes, which may have led to her changing her mind. Just a thought. Rumours abound that she may be thinking about running for the Senate seat currently held by Senator Braun. Because he is currently in the Indiana governor’s race, he will not be running for re-election.

One Democrat says But not so quick.

Rep. Max Miller (R. Ohio), introduced Tuesday’s resolution. The text states that “any Member reserves the right to bring a case before the Committee on Ethics as grounds for an appeal to the Speaker of the House for reconsideration of any committee removal decision.”

Miller told Axios that, under this process, the Ethics Committee — which is split evenly along party lines — would “take up the investigation and then make the ruling.”

Rep. Susan Wild (D.Pa.), top Democrat on Ethics Committee, stated that Republicans would need to make changes to facilitate this process.

“They couldn’t just provide something by way of a resolution against Omar tomorrow that would include a change to the ethics rules,” She said. “I read the rules package, there’s nothing in there about that.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) Axios told Don Bacon (R-Neb.) that the language was intended to address the concerns of multiple members. “wanted to make sure there was due process.”

Two Republicans could still be resisters. Ken Buck said that he was still a “no” because of his concern about the partisan coup-for-tat. Rep. Dave Joyce (R.OH) was still undecided on Tuesday. He demands that Omar be treated with due process. “opportunity to defend her prior statements.”

We’ll see if the vote happens today and if McCarthy truly does have the votes.

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