House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is staying true to the ideals of those who voted for his leadership in the House last week. In the first full week of rearranging the House of Representatives to reflect the new Republican leadership, McCarthy led the House in such initiatives as rescinding the call for 87,000 additional IRS agents and other tactics previously passed by the Democrats. Now, McCarthy is turning his attention to committees within the House.
The House Intelligence Committee states its purpose as, “to oversee and make continuing studies of the intelligence activities and programs of the United States government.” The committee has been chaired by Adam Schiff(D). Obviously, members of this committee must be of the highest intel clearance and knowledgeable about the intelligence community.
The Foreign Affairs Committee concerns itself with bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs of the United States. Naturally, these members must have a working knowledge of current events around the world as well as the political stance of the United States as it relates to those events. this committee is currently being chaired by Adam Meeks(D).
Democrats previously have ousted Republicans from committee assignments themselves. For instance, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her committee assignment in 2021 with Democrats accusing her of speaking of “conspiracy theories”. Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar lost his committee assignments as well after posting a humorous animated video on social media of the “Attack on Titan” anime’s opening reel that depicted him as anti-hero Eren Jaeger killing his political opponents.
Now McCarthy is announcing changes in committee assignments. McCarthy says he will block the appointments of Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Calif., and Eric Swalwell, Calif., to the House Intelligence Committee and will seek to keep Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar off of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Both Swalwell and Schiff attracted considerable scrutiny during their time in the majority. Schiff served as chairman of the committee after Democrats took control of the chamber in 2018 and was a vocal proponent of the now-debunked Trump-Russia collusion hoax, ruining his credibility. Swalwell, meanwhile, maintained ties to an alleged Chinese spy, with many alleging that the pair enjoyed a romantic relationship, certainly bringing into question the state of his allegiance.
In an interview with Punchbowl News, McCarthy indicated that he would unilaterally block the California Democrats from taking up Intelligence Committee posts, and he gave his solid reasons for doing so.
“Swalwell can’t get a security clearance in the private sector. I’m not going to give him a government security clearance. Schiff has lied too many times to the American public. He should not be on Intel,” the House Speaker told the outlet.
Omar, meanwhile, has long been an irritant to conservatives given her pointed criticism of Israel and penchant for making anti-Semitic comments. She has shown herself not to be aligned with the policies of the United States when it comes to matters in the middle east.
McCarthy will need to hold a floor vote to keep her from joining the committee. A member of the far-left “Squad” which began with four members and now has grown to a group of eight progressives who seek to advance their far-left agenda in Congress, Omar is not likely to survive a chamber-wide vote, given Republican control of the majority. Original “squad” members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are not likely to receive appointments from McCarthy either. The group has been actively recruiting new squad members, touting Cori Bush of Missouri, and Jamaal Brown of New York as additions. More young far left-leaning new members of Congress are expected to attach themselves to the “squad”.
As he rearranges committee assignments this week, McCarthy is expected to name Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to the Oversight and Accountability Committee, Just The News reports. Greene was persecuted mercilessly by the formerly Democrat-led House as a supporter of former President Trump and was stripped of her assignments for her stated conservative views.
Paul Gosar of Wyoming was also attacked by the former House leadership and stripped of assignments. Gosar has indicated that party leadership has backed him to return to his previous post before he was ousted, Punchbowl reported.
A new committee in the House was voted on this week, as a resolution easily passed to create a bipartisan China select committee. The Hill reported that the House voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution Tuesday to create a select committee focused on U.S. competition with China, fulfilling a campaign promise Republicans made in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. The resolution passed in a 365-65 vote with 146 Democrats joining Republicans in supporting the measure. All “no” votes came from Democrats.
The select committee, chaired by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) will zero in on the Chinese Communist Party’s economic, technological, and security progress and the strategic competition between Beijing and Washington, The Hill noted.
There are compelling reasons why the so-called ‘RINO’s’ should be excluded from any internal committees in Government. The ‘Squad’ needs to be listed as a Domestic Terrorist Organisation and any members blacklisted and prosecuted!