House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) says he supports the idea of stripping far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) of her committee assignments over her Islamophobic attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — but he wants the job of doing so to be left to Republicans.
When asked during a pre-taped Axios interview released on Sunday if he believed that Boebert, who’s repeatedly suggested Omar is a terrorist, ought to be removed from her seats on the House’s Natural Resources and Budget committees, Clyburn replied, “Yeah, but that’s [for] the Republicans to do.”
“She is a member of the Republican conference, so it’s not the Democratic Party’s responsibility to police Republicans,” the Democratic leader said.
Clyburn asserted that the “problem” is failed leadership in the House GOP conference.
“That’s why these people are running willy-nilly. Because there’s nobody providing them leadership,” he said.
Clyburn’s jab at “these people” was likely in reference to Reps. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), two other far-right trolls in the House GOP who were recently stripped of their committee assignments (and censured, in Gosar’s case) over their violent rhetoric toward certain Democrats.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) is spearheading the effort by dozens of Democrats to condemn Boebert and remove her from her committee assignments. The Massachusetts lawmaker introduced the measure last Wednesday.
Pelosi has not backed Pressley’s resolution or said what other disciplinary action she may take against Boebert. “When I’m ready to announce that, I’ll let you know,” the House speaker said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
But similar to Clyburn, Pelosi emphasized last week that it’s Republicans’ “responsibility” to keep their members in check.
However, given House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) flaccid response to Greene and Gosar’s toxic behavior (in fact, he’s even promised to restore their committee assignments), it’s extremely unlikely he’ll listen to his Democratic counterparts’ calls to hold Boebert accountable.
Watch Clyburn below:
Seems to me like there IS leadership, it’s just all anti-Democratic, both against the party, and the country.
Unless and until some of those who violate their sworn oaths are put in jail and/or expelled from congress nothing will change.
I am disappointed in Congressman Clyburn’s (who arguably saved the Republic some 20 months ago) to punt to the GOP. That dog won’t hunt. That is not the way to go here.
The problem is that Boebert is nothing but a troll in a party that’s basically run by trolls. The whole point of being a troll is to get people angry by attacking them. It’s unfortunate but, any reaction to Boebert and others like her is to just give them exactly what they want.
She’s not in Congress to sit on committees, write laws or try to pass legislation. Hell, she probably has no clue what’s in any of the legislation she has to vote on, nor does she care. She got elected to Congress to do one, and only one thing: Piss off liberals. Anything she can say or do to accomplish that end, no matter how shameless, will make her and her base happy.
Removing her from her committees wouldn’t be seen by her as punishment, it would be a gift.
I’m in support of this position, in part because Clyburn is right about the GOP needing to police their own, but also because his position ideally should turn reporters’ lonely eyes in the direction of that party and force them to answer why it’s acceptable for their members to lie about encounters with their colleagues and then impugn them for no reason. If Congress is so gosh-darned dysfunctional, how does such behavior make it less so?
I can’t imagine what Rep. Omar is going through. Subjected to constant death threats and attempted intimidation and outright ethnic hatred, she looks around her corner and finds that there’s nobody from the party leadership in her corner. It’s shocking.