In a 218 to 211 vote on Thursday, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to remove Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar from the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The vote was preceded by a fiery Omar claiming that her “voice will get louder and stronger” upon her dismissal – and was followed by an even more fiery Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez running to her political ally’s defense.
“I think one of the things that we should talk about here is also one of the disgusting legacies after 9/11 –the targeting and racism against Muslim-Americans throughout the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “This is an extension of that legacy.”
Omar’s ouster comes following many House Republicans citing past comments relating to Israel she made as being antisemitic. The decision to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee was made under the guise of keeping “consistency” with previous circumstances, claimed Republican representative of New York Nicole Malliotakis.
“I am being consistent here, and I hope my colleagues will do the same to show that this is about consistency and accountability,” Malliotakis said. “We should not have an individual with those views on the committee that is tasked with representing our country and our Congress to foreign nations.”
Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t buying it.
“Consistency? There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party’s continued attack, except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body,” she said, lambasting her fellow representative from New York. “I had a member of the Republican caucus threaten my life, and the Republican caucus rewarded him with one of the most prestigious committee assignments in this congress. Don’t tell me this is about consistency.”
Here, Ocasio-Cortez referenced Paul Gosar, the Republican representative from Arizona who previously tweeted a cartoon of him killing her. Gosar was stripped of his committee assignments as a result, but was reassigned to the Oversight and Accountability and Natural Resources committees last month.
Ocasio-Cortez then targeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her 2021 remarks on how “Jewish space lasers are being trained on the North Pole.”
“Don’t tell me this is about a condemnation of antisemitic remarks when you have a member of the Republican caucus who has talked about Jewish space lasers and a tired amount of tropes and also elevated her to some of the highest committee assignments in this body,” Ocasio-Cortez concluded. “This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America. Don’t tell me — because I didn’t get a single apology when my life was threatened.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments earned shouts of support from the House floor.
Watch a video of CSPAN’s coverage with Ocasio-Cortez taking the podium above.