From News Nation:
“House votes
to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees”
The House of
Representatives voted Thursday to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.,
from committees, following bipartisan outcry over her embrace of conspiracy
theories, including suggestions that mass shootings at the nation’s schools
were staged. The House voted 230 to 199 to strip Greene of her committee
assignments; 11 Republicans voted in favor. Two Democrats and 1 Republican did
not vote. Ahead of the vote, Greene said on the House floor that she regrets
some “words of the past,” but she didn’t specifically apologize for supporting
violence against Democrats. “These were words of the past and these things do
not represent me, they do not represent my (congressional) district and they do
not represent my values,” Greene said. “I was allowed to believe things that
weren’t true, and I would ask questions about them and talk about them. And
that is absolutely what I regret,” she said.
The Georgia
Republican had been named to the education committee, a decision that drew
harsh criticism because of her suggestions prior to being elected that school
shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, could be hoaxes. On
social media, Greene has also expressed racist views and supported calls for
violence against Democratic politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In
her speech on Thursday, Greene disavowed belief in a QAnon conspiracy theory,
acknowledging that school shootings really happened and that the Sept. 11
attacks did occur. “I never said any of these things since I was elected for
Congress,” Greene said. Greene, who took
office last month on the House Budget Committee and the House Education and Labor
Committee, also said the House was preparing to “crucify me in the public
square for words that I said and I regret a few years ago” after tolerating
other lawmakers who she accused of condoning violent urban riots and attacks on
police last year. Green also assailed the media. “You see, big media companies
can take teeny tiny pieces of words that I’ve said, that you have said – any of
us – and can portray us into someone that we’re not. And that is wrong. Cancel
culture is a real thing,” Greene said.
House Majority
Leader Steny H. Hoyer released a statement Wednesday announcing the vote would
occur. “I spoke to Leader McCarthy this morning, and it is clear there is no
alternative to holding a Floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene
from her committee assignments,” Hoyer said. “The Rules Committee will meet
this afternoon, and the House will vote on the resolution tomorrow.” House
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met privately with Greene late Tuesday in his
Capitol office for about 90 minutes. House Republicans then met Wednesday
evening for a closed door caucus vote, opting not to punish Greene for her
incendiary comments. “I denounce all of those comments that were brought up,
everybody and she came inside our conference and denounced them as well. She
said she was wrong. She has reached out in other ways and forms and nothing
that she said has been based upon since she’s been a member of Congress, and
the voters, the voters decided she could come and serve,” McCarthy told
reporters after the Wednesday closed door session. “McCarthy’s failure to lead
his party effectively hands the keys over to Greene — an anti-Semite, QAnon
adherent and 9/11 Truther,” Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday. That same
day, McCarthy had earlier condemned Greene’s comments in a statement. “Past
comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings,
political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the
values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference. I condemn those comments
unequivocally. I condemned them in the past. I continue to condemn them today.
This House condemned QAnon last Congress and continues to do so today,” he
said. Also in his statement, McCarthy invoked comments and controversies
surrounding some Democrats including Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rep. Eric
Swalwell of California and Rep. Maxine Waters of California. “While Democrats
pursue a resolution on Congresswoman Greene, they continue to do nothing about
Democrats serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee who have spread anti-Semitic
tropes, Democrats on the House Intelligence and Homeland Security Committee
compromised by Chinese spies, or the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services
Committee who advocated for violence against public servants,” McCarthy said.
Some
Republicans expressed concern about the precedent of the hearing and eventual
vote. “I do worry a lot about the precedent of another party choosing to
“remove members from committees,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and others boosted pressure this week on the
House GOP to act. In a statement that didn’t use Greene’s name, he called her
“loony lies” a “cancer” on the GOP. In addition, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.,
said he favored removing Greene from her committees, saying Republicans must
“take a stand to disavow” her. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a Trump critic and the
GOP 2012 presidential nominee, said Tuesday that Republicans must “separate
ourselves from the people that are the wacky weeds.” This comes as the GOP
faces unrest from opposing ends of the Republican spectrum over Greene and Rep.
Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump. On the GOP’s
furthest right wing, some lawmakers tried to oust Cheney, a traditional
conservative and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, from her post
as the No. 3 House Republican after she voted to impeach Trump last month. McConnell
praised Cheney, R-Wyo., as “a leader with deep convictions and courage.” House
Republicans, in the same Wednesday evening closed door caucus session, voted
overwhelmingly to keep Cheney as the No. 3 leader. “People were able to air
their differences. People were able to focus. The most important part that came
out of this conference was where our focus is at,” McCarthy said after the session.
He continued, “This Republican Party is a very big tent. Everyone’s invited in
and you look at the last election, we continue to grow and in two years will be
the majority.” John Fredericks, who led Trump’s Virginia campaigns in 2016 and
2020, warned that there would be party primaries against Cheney defenders. “We’ve
got millions and millions of woke, motivated, America-first Trump voters that
believe in the movement,” Fredericks said. “If you’re going to keep Liz Cheney
in leadership, there’s no party.” Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., a leader of the
effort to oust Cheney, says he has enough support to succeed. “She’s brought
this on herself,” Rosendale said. He said Cheney, who was joined by only nine
other Republicans in backing impeachment, was wrong to not forewarn colleagues
about her decision. Republicans later voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening in
a secret 145-61 to keep Cheney as their No. 3 leader.
^ This needed
to be done. It is sad that anyone (Republican or Democrat) supports her and her
dangerous beliefs. It would be even better if she was not in any position of power, but at least now everyone in the country knows what kind of person she really is. ^
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