House Republicans Will Not Allow Rep. Ilhan Omar on Foreign Affairs Committee: Scalise

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) speaks during a press conference in Washington on Sept. 29, 2022. Jemal Countess/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said during press conference Tuesday that Republicans will remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee if Democrats appoint her.

Omar has on several occasions come under fire for negative comments about Israel, which critics have described as “antisemitic.”

Because of these past comments, Republicans have expressed sharp opposition to placing Omar on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

U.S. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), joined by House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), speaks at a press conference following a Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 8, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“We’ve all seen the quotes and things that she said over and over and over again, as a member of Congress, that would create major problems if she were on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Scalise said. “So we would—if they brought that forward, which they haven’t yet, but if they did—then we would have to remove her as well.”

At the time of publication, Scalise said Democrats had yet to submit the full list of their picks for House committees.

“We’re waiting on the Democrats to submit their list because we want the committees to get up and running,” the Louisiana Republican said.

“At the end of the day, [Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] has made it very clear, the whole conference has been very vocal about the concerns to national security, both the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Scalise said.

Hypocrisy

Scalise suggested that opposition to excluding Omar from Foreign Affairs would be hypocritical after the treatment given to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) during the last Congress.

In early 2021, Greene was removed from all of her committee assignments due to comments the Georgia Republican had made—and later rejected—prior to her swearing-in to Congress. Gosar was stripped of each of his committee assignments later in the year, following a November 2021 vote by the Democrat majority after the Arizona Republican posted a meme video to his Twitter page that Democrats said promoted violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) smiles at Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Dec. 7, 2021. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

These instances, Scalise suggested, are at the forefront of Republicans minds as they prepare on how to deal with Omar.

“We’ve been talking to our members and pointing out a lot of issues because you know, if you look at what we were very concerned about last Congress, with Democrats removing Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from all of their committees, this is not the same in a number of regards,” he said.

However, he insisted that Republicans are not merely playing revenge politics with the majority.

“No. 1, they went after Marjorie Taylor Greene for things that she had said before she was a member of Congress, that she denounced before she was a member of Congress.”

“It was very personal when they removed her from every committee,” Scalise added.

Republicans, Scalise emphasized, do not intend to go as far as Democrats did by removing certain members from all their committees.

“Even if Omar were to be removed from the foreign affairs committee she will be allowed to serve on other committees,” Scalise said. “So a lot of big differences.”

He added, “if Omar is concerned about being removed, probably be good if you would ask her why she voted to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene and Gosar from their committees, because she did vote to do that.”

Schiff and Swalwell

Omar is not the only Democrat whose committee assignments are up in the air. Republicans have also said that they will refuse to grant Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) seats on the Intelligence Committee.

The Intelligence Committee, in contrast to most House committees, is permitted to access information about classified intelligence which most other members of Congress are not allowed to see. Thus, McCarthy has indicated that he considers the Intelligence Committee qualitatively different from any other House commission.

It is for this reason that McCarthy has said he will not allow either Schiff or Swalwell onto the committee, citing significant ethics concerns for each.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 25, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Schiff has, on a handful of occasions and particularly during his time on the now-defunct House Jan. 6 panel, doctored or tampered with evidence. The most well-known instance of this tampering came in December 2021, when Schiff presented misleadingly-edited screen caps of a text conversation between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Swalwell, on the other hand, would pose national security concerns if he were permitted on the committee due to his well-documented past relationship with a Chinese spy, McCarthy has said.

“Speaker McCarthy has made clear where we are, whether it’s for Adam Schiff and Swalwell on Intelligence, as well as Omar for Foreign Affairs,” Scalise said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) speaks during a press conference at his campaign headquarters in Dublin, Calif., on July 8, 2019. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

He confirmed that McCarthy and GOP leadership have not moved their position on Schiff and Swalwell.

“Obviously you’ve heard with Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell, that they would not be allowed to serve on the intelligence committees again, because of the access to classified sensitive information,” he said. “That would be a very major concern.”

As speaker, McCarthy ultimately has unilateral authority over who is appointed to the Intelligence Committee, and there is little Democrats will be able to do if McCarthy decides to maintain his opposition to these appointments.

Keeping Omar out of Foreign Affairs will be harder.

If Omar’s appointment to the committee goes through, Republicans will only be able to have her removed by a full vote on the House floor. Omar has few allies among the GOP caucus in the lower chamber, but Republicans can only spare four votes if they hope to have Omar removed.