Democrats Move To Strip Committee Assignments From Georgia U.S. Rep. Greene

By Ariana Figueroa, the Georgia Recorder

February 1, 2021

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Rules Committee is set to meet on Wednesday to consider a resolution that would strip Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her two committee assignments.

If approved for debate by the panel, the resolution would move to the floor of the Democratic-controlled House for a vote. It is included on a list of measures Democratic leaders expect to bring up this week.

The resolution, H. Res. 72, would remove Greene from two committee assignments given by Republican leaders — Education and Labor, and Budget. Democrats have also discussed censuring or even expelling Greene.

Democrats have denounced Greene for spreading baseless conspiracy theories that the deadly mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., was staged, and also for backing violence against members of Congress.

“Whereas Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from her committee assignments in light of conduct she has exhibited,” according to the resolution, which is sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat.

Videos have surfaced showing Greene harassing gun control advocate David Hogg, a student who survived the Parkland shooting. An investigative report from CNN found social media posts in which Greene called for the execution of prominent Democratic leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), along with posts about QAnon, the baseless conspiracy fringe group.

“Congress must stop giving (Marjorie Taylor Greene) a platform to lie,” Wasserman Schultz tweeted Monday.

Wasserman Schultz’s district includes Parkland, where the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took place in 2018. Seventeen people were killed.

Republicans have either kept quiet or have been slow to denounce Greene. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is set to meet with her this week, his spokesman said to multiple media outlets.

Former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was the most recent lawmaker who was stripped of committee seats, in 2019, after he gave an interview to the New York Times in which he questioned why white nationalism was considered offensive and racist.

The Rules panel is set to meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

“If Democrats remove me from my committees, I can assure them that the precedent they are setting will be used extensively against members on their side once we regain the majority after the 2022 elections,” Greene said on Twitter Monday afternoon. “And we will regain the majority, make no mistake about that.”

Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report.

This story was originally published by the Georgia Recorder. For more stories from the Georgia Recorder, visit GeorgiaRecorder.com.