Erin Scott-Pool/Getty Images;Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
- House Republicans came up with a tit-for-tat response to calls for reprimanding Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- Some in the GOP want Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar to be punished instead of Greene.
- Greene faces calls for committee removal over conspiratorial rhetoric involving violence.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
While House Democrats prepare to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees, some GOP lawmakers have fired back, suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar be removed from her panels instead.
Democrats unveiled a measure this week to drop Greene from the House Education and Labor Committee and House Budget Committee over concerns she amplifies conspiracy theories and has endorsed political violence, according to recent reports on her past social media activity.
However, Texas Rep. Brian Babin on Tuesday proposed an amendment to the resolution that would replace Greene’s name with Omar’s, Forbes reported.
“If the Democrat Majority wants to go down this road, they should start by dealing with their own members who have been at this before and AFTER their election to Congress,” Babin tweeted on Tuesday.
A handful of GOPers have backed Babin’s resolution, including fellow Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson as well as Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Jody Hice of Georgia, according to Forbes.
Babin's office did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.
Later on Wednesday, Biggs went on Fox News to elaborate, equating Greene's comments to unspecified remarks by Omar and other Democrats as "offensive or dangerous."
"On the other hand, you have comments from Ilhan Omar, Nancy Pelosi …. a whole plethora of folks who, while they're sitting here, have made offensive or dangerous statements as well," Biggs said without elaborating further on those comments.
"We're really trying to say - look, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander - but maybe what should happen is, we let Republicans take care of our own, and you Democrats take care of your own," he continued, "and when someone is elected - and by the way, most of these statements were known when [Greene] was running, and she won overwhelmingly."
Since Democrats control the House majority, Babin's proposal remains a remote outcome that likely won't happen.
Omar, who represents Minnesota's 5th Congressional District and is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, faced criticism shortly after she took office in 2019 over her tweets about Israel. Omar said Republicans' support of Israel was "all about the Benjamins," a reference to the financial influence of Jewish lobbying groups that plays into anti-Semitic tropes.
Several Republicans and Democrats condemned her statements as anti-Semitic. Omar apologized and said that her intentions were "never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole." The House later passed a resolution to condemn all forms of bigotry, including anti-Semitic tropes.
Following the calls for her to be sanctioned, Omar fired back at congressional Republicans in a tweet, describing the move as "whataboutism."
—Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 2, 2021
"Stop whitewashing the actions of the bigoted conspiracy theorists, violent insurrectionists and fascist cult followers of Trump," Omar tweeted.
Greene, a freshman Republican of Georgia, has been at the center of backlash in recent weeks due to her past controversial comments. She has suggested on multiple occasions that mass shootings have been orchestrated to promote gun control. She previously "liked" a Facebook post that claimed the 2018 Parkland school shooting, which killed 17 people was a "false-flag" operation, watchdog group Media Matters revealed last month.
The lawmaker has also been linked to several other baseless theories, including QAnon, Pizzagate, and has falsely claimed that an airplane never hit the Pentagon on 9/11. Greene has a history of making racist and Islamophobic remarks, and CNN reported that she had previously endorsed calls to execute lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In light of the statements, Pelosi urged House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to take action against Greene and stop her from serving on her assigned committees. The top Democrat offered the Republican leader 72 hours to act, otherwise, she would move forward to remove Greene from the panels. McCarthy hasn't made any such move to do so as of Wednesday morning. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider the resolution at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
Greene has received backlash from both sides of the aisle. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week called her "loony lies and conspiracy theories" a "cancer" to the GOP. Other Republicans, including Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Mitt Romney of Utah, have echoed his remarks.
House leadership bristled at the comparison.
"There's absolutely no analogy to any member on our side of the aisle, period," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Wednesday, according to pool reports. "Any analogy that they try to make is a specious one."