“We will not allow this farce.” A rejection in the US House of Representatives of attempts to expel Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Relations Committee

Washington - Representative Victoria Spartz (R-Indiana) said she would not support House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) efforts to deny Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This makes things even more difficult for the Republican leader in Congress, as he looks forward to making good on his promise to expel Omar from the committee for no reason .

Spartz: Speaker McCarthy is now taking unprecedented action in this Congress to deny certain minority committee appointments without due process again

Spartz also said she opposes McCarthy's pledge to ban Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee.

But while McCarthy has the power to unilaterally ban Schiff and Swalwell from membership of the Intelligence Committee, Omar's ouster would take a vote in the full House, where Republicans have only a slim majority.

Spartz cited moves by Democrats in 2021 to strip Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) of their commission assignments — which she voted against — as the reason for resisting them.

"Two wrongs don't make a right," Spartz wrote in a statement on Tuesday, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took unprecedented action in the last Congress to remove Representatives Green and Josar from their committees without due process, noting that House Speaker McCarthy is now taking Unprecedented action in this Congress to deny certain committee appointments to the minority without, again, due process.”

"When I spoke out against it on the House floor two years ago, I will never again support this farce," she added.

"Speaker McCarthy needs to stop the 'circuses and bagels' in Congress and start governing for change," she said.

McCarthy vowed to keep Schiff and Swalwell off the intelligence committee and Omar from the foreign affairs committee after the Democrats fired Green and Gosar from the intelligence committee.

The Intelligence Committee is a select committee, which means that members are appointed by the Speaker of the House in consultation with the minority leader.

This power also gives him the power to decline members' seats on the Committee on the one hand, and on the other hand, the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee are chosen by each party and then ratified by the full House.