Washington, DC – Today, Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued the following statement regarding the House vote to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

 
“Today’s vote is not a reflection of Representative Omar, but on the rank hypocrisy of Republican leadership, which has used its power to exact revenge on their political opponents and, in the case of Omar, punish a Member to satisfy the extreme MAGA wing of their party. If the purpose of this vote is to punish a Member for antisemitism, this resolution should not be aimed at a Representative who has apologized and learned from her mistakes, but those within their own party who’ve yet to apologize for their antisemitic remarks and actions. It should be condemning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – of ‘Jewish space lasers’ fame - for spreading conspiracies that ‘Zionist supremacists” are flooding Europe with migrants to replace white populations. It should be condemning Rep. Miller for quoting Adolf Hitler in Congressional remarks, or Rep. Gosar for inviting a Holocaust denier to the State of the Union. This resolution should be condemning Speaker McCarthy himself for his November 6th tweet accusing three Jewish men of buying the election, an antisemitic dog whistle about Jewish money buying elections. 

Not only does Representative Omar not deserve to be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as the only Africa-born and Muslim Member on the Committee, her perspective and insight makes her an invaluable asset to the Committee's important work. Rather than allowing Congress to do its job and legislate, the very purpose that people have sent us to Washington in the first place, Republicans are spending time stripping a Member of her Committee assignment on grounds they themselves can’t stand on. 

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