In Unprecedented Act, Democrats Strip Republican Congresswoman of Her Committee Assignments

Feb. 4 , 2021 (EIRNS)—This evening, House Democrats, in an unprecedented action, voted 230-199 to remove Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from her two committee assignments. The vote followed an hour of debate and an unsuccessful motion by the GOP to adjourn.

Their action took place after a meeting of the Republican members of the House on Feb. 3. Greene addressed her controversial social postings, and apologized for some of them. Evidently, she received a standing ovation for her remarks from at least half of those present. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) was emphatic that, while Republicans have removed their own members from committee assignments and Democrats have attempted to do the same to fellow Democrats, never has one party attempted to strip assignments made by the other party. McCarthy had offered House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer a compromise, to pull Greene off the Education and Labor Committee in response to a complaint by Hoyer, while keeping her on the Budget Committee; but Hoyer insisted upon a full floor vote.

Greene, herself, spoke during the House debate Feb. 4, saying that over 2017-18 she had approved of, and later rejected various Internet theories, including QAnon. She said that her further investigation convinced her that they were wrong. Her mistakes preceded her campaigning for public office and being elected, and certainly had nothing to do with her short time on Capitol Hill. McCarthy warned Democrats to “stop trying to find dangerous and divisive ways to abuse the power of the majority” and said that they may live to regret the new standard they are creating “a lot sooner than you think.”

For all the talk of defending democracy, is it democratic to prevent an elected official from expressing in committee the views that the people of her district elected her to represent?

Following the unprecedented vote, the House of Representatives took up the serious business of advancing the nation’s interests by providing its members a one-hour “space” to communicate their “lived experiences” as “survivors” of the “trauma” of Jan. 6. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a subject of mockery for her false story of being in the Capitol during the invasion, when in fact no one broke into the House office building where she took shelter; she now insists that anyone who “gaslights” her about this “trauma” is not “believing survivors.”