Kevin McCarthy kicks lhan Omar, Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off committees

Kevin McCarthy will follow through on Republican threats to expel Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee, in addition to barring Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The move is likely revenge for former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who stripped Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar of their committee assignments during the 117th Congress.

Republicans warned that Democrats would regret deciding who serves on which committees in the future. If operating under the usual precedent, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries would offer names to the respective committees and McCarthy would approve.

Speaker McCarthy, however, told Punchbowl News that he has already made the case against the three far-left representatives winning seats on these high-profile committees.

McCarthy will prevent Eric Swalwell (left) and Adam Schiff (right) from serving on intelligence committees. The Spokesman claims that Swalwell ‘cannot obtain a security clearance in the private sector’ and that Schiff has ‘lied to the American public too many times’

“It’s not like it’s anything new,” McCarthy said. ‘Remember, this is what Nancy Pelosi did, this is the type of Congress that she wanted to have.’

“Swalwell can’t get security clearance in the private sector,” he added of his fellow California lawmaker. ‘I’m not going to give you a government security clearance.’

He continued: ‘Schiff has lied to the American public too many times. She shouldn’t be at Intel.

The three legislators say they have not engaged in any wrongdoing and should not be removed from their committees.

However, Swalwell has faced questions about his links to a Chinese spy named Fang Fang.

The woman helped Swalwell raise money for his 2014 campaign, and while the California Democrat said he cut all ties to the alleged spy, it was shown that he was still friends with her on Facebook long after an FBI briefing on her links with China.

Omar, for his part, has shared a large number of anti-Semitic comments and sentiments, which have even been criticized by other Democrats.

McCarthy will also take steps to prevent Rep. Ilhan Omar from serving on the Foreign Affairs panel.

He is a key member of the so-called Squad, a group made up of the most progressive left-wing Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib.

After the rules package was approved Monday night, the next big fight is shaping up to be a partisan fight on the floor over committee assignments, after more than a week of Republican wrangling and chaos over who should be the president and what rules should govern the House in the 118th Congress.

It took 15 rounds of voting last week for Republicans to finally decide they were okay with handing McCarthy the president’s gavel.

McCarthy has vowed since 2021 to block Swalwell, Schiff and Omar from the Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.

Multiple Democratic leadership sources say the plan is to keep appointing Schiff and Swalwell to Intel and Omar to Foreign Affairs, according to Punchbowl.

Meanwhile, Republicans will place Greene, Gosar and controversial late Republican Rep. George Santos on committees. The Democrats, who are now in the minority, can do nothing to stop it.

Greene was expelled from the Budget and then Education and Labor panels in February 2021 for a series of offensive comments she made before she was elected to Congress, including promoting conspiracy theories about the Jewish people.

The Democratic resolution to remove her from her committee was also supported by 11 House Republicans.

McCarthy is expected to place the Georgia Representative on the Oversight and Accountability Committee, among other potential panel assignments.

The blockades against Democratic lawmakers from his favored panels follow through on McCarthy’s threat to act the same way former Speaker Nancy Pelosi did when she removed far-right Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (left) and Paul Gosar (right) from their seats. committee assignments in the 117th Congress

Freshman representative George Santos, who has been accused of being a pathological liar, will also receive committee assignments despite being under criminal investigation.

Gosar was censored and stripped of his committee seats in the last Congress after he posted on social media a bizarre animated video showing violence against progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.

“They promised me that if I wanted to stay in Natural Resources and Oversight, I could stay,” Gosar said of his future under the new GOP leadership.

It’s unclear which committees Santos might serve on, but the rookie lawmaker has been shown to be a pathological liar after failing much of his resume. He is currently under criminal investigation.

McCarthy, as chair, can unilaterally block Schiff and Swalwell from sitting on the Intel panel, but the House will have to act fully against Omar on Foreign Affairs.

The three Democrats claim they have done nothing wrong and that Republican leaders are unfairly targeting them.

Republicans have long said they planned to remove Omar, a Somali-born progressive, from the Foreign Affairs Committee if they won a majority in the House.

Omar, who has been in Congress since 2017, claims that the Republicans “made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to attack me on the House floor and through millions of dollars in campaign ads.” “.

Schiff, who led the House’s first impeachment trial against Donald Trump, attacked McCarthy for threatening to block him from the Intelligence panel, claiming the new president “will adhere to the wishes of Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

McCarthy and Democratic leader Jeffries have yet to determine the proportions of the House committees as of Monday night, which could be a process that takes several days on its own.

The deal was delayed because of the floor fight McCarthy faced during the presidential vote last week.