Ilhan Omar reacts to Kevin McCarthy's plan to pull her from committees

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Sunday condemned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) plans to kick her off the House Foreign Affairs Committee as hypocritical.

Omar was asked about McCarthy's repeated promises to yank her committee assignments during an appearance on MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian Reports. The progressive lawmaker was specifically questioned about if there were any developments on the matter in the days since McCarthy had secured the speaker's gavel.

"I have not [received any updates]," Omar said. "It’s my understanding that we obviously have to get the rules package done. Hopefully, Monday, when we reconvene, that is on top of the agenda, and then the different caucuses, our caucus and their conference, will make appointments to committees and we will go from there."

Taking aim at McCarthy specifically, Omar then remarked on McCarthy's difficult path to the speakership before referencing her Somali background as a reason to keep her on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

"I do have to say for a speaker that has faced a historic humiliation — that had gotten elected after 15 rounds, surpassing a record that was set pre-Civil War — there is an opportunity here, as he has said to not do things in the way in which it has been done before," she explained. "I think it would be hypocritic [sic] for him to remove, you know, the first African born on subcommittee on Africa on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where I’ve had the opportunity to not only represent my constituents but the voice of so many people who have never had a voice on the Foreign Affairs Committee."

Omar, who was first elected in 2018, has ignited a series of controversies over her anti-Israel positions and remarks and has faced accusations of antisemitism over specific comments. McCarthy vowed in the summer of 2021, when Omar faced bipartisan backlash for appearing to equate Israel and the United States with the Taliban, that he would yank the lawmaker from the Foreign Affairs Committee if his party retook the House, calling her "anti-American" and "antisemitic."

He had most recently reiterated that promise late last year after House Republicans narrowly retook the chamber in the November midterm elections.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/watch-ilhan-omar-reacts-kevin-mccarthy-committees