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House Democrats move swiftly to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments
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House Democrats move swiftly to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments

By sdlocal / February 1, 2021

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, is planning to deliver an ultimatum to House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Greene this week, a source familiar tells CNN. Hoyer is expected to tell McCarthy that Republicans have 72 hours to strip Greene of her committee assignments, or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor.

CNN has reached out to Hoyer’s office to ask for more details. Politico first reported the ultimatum from the House majority leader.

The move by Democrats could set a risky precedent as they go after a sitting member of Congress over views expressed before serving as an elected official — and one that has the potential to someday be used against the party by Republicans.

The House Rules Committee is slated to meet Wednesday to approve a rule for a resolution to kick Greene off the House Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee.

The rule would govern the procedures for floor debate ahead of the full House’s consideration of the resolution to strip Greene of her committee assignments. It marks the first official step by House Democrats to oust Greene from her assignments.

Despite the ultimatum, McCarthy is not yet tipping his hand on how he will handle Greene. An aide told CNN that McCarthy needs to speak with the congresswoman first.

“They need to have a person-to-person conversation,” a McCarthy spokesman said. The two are expected talk this week, but it’s still not clear when.
Last week, a spokesman for the House Republican leader called comments from Greene “deeply disturbing” after CNN’s KFile reported that Greene repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress. But most House Republicans have remained silent over the comments, even as Democrats have expressed growing outrage.

The move from Hoyer to deliver an ultimatum suggests that Democratic leadership wants to give McCarthy time to act on Greene independently before pursuing a resolution on the House floor.

The congresswoman has also faced backlash over recently resurfaced comments she made related to the Parkland school shooting.
Students who survived the Parkland, Florida, shooting and families of the victims have called for Greene’s resignation after comments surfaced that showed her agreeing with people who said the 2018 shooting was a “false flag” operation.

Greene appears to now be attempting to walk back some of those views.

During an interview with One America News on Monday, Greene said that she does not think such shootings are fake.

“These are not red flag incidents; they are not fake. And it’s terrible the loss that these families go through and their friends as well. And it should never happen. And it doesn’t have to happen if we would protect our children properly,” she said.

At least 50 House Democrats have also called for Greene to be removed from Congress, with others demanding she be censured or face punishment after a number of her inflammatory comments came to light.

This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.

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