WASHINGTON — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy further hinted Sunday that his potential speaker will be politically unstable, saying he will try to keep three high-profile Democrats off certain committees.
Democrats said McCarthy will do whatever his right wing wants him to do because he still doesn’t have the votes to land the speaker’s job.
In his pursuit of the position, McCarthy has targeted Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Representatives Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., members of the House Intelligence Committee.
McCarthy and other Republicans have said for months that these members’ previous statements and actions on issues like Israel, China and Russia should keep them off these committees.
“I’ll keep that promise” to remove them, McCarthy told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
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Schiff and other Democrats said McCarthy is trying to get support from hard-right conservatives like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — who was ejected from committees in a 2021 full House vote for her inflammatory statements about Democrats.
“I suspect he’ll do what Marjorie Taylor Greene wants him to do,” Schiff said on ABC’s “This Week.” “He is a very weak leader of his conference, which means he will abide by the wishes of the lowest common denominator. And if that lowest common denominator wants to remove people from committees, they will.”
McCarthy is favored to become Speaker of the House when Republicans take over the chamber next year, but it’s not a done deal yet.
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Conservative Republicans such as Representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona and Matt Gaetz of Florida said they will oppose McCarthy. Every vote counts because the GOP majority probably won’t exceed 10 seats.
“He seems to be struggling” to get the 218 votes needed to win the speakership, said Representative Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., who is expected to be the Democratic leader in the next Congress.
“Let’s see what happens on January 3rd,” Jeffries said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who is retiring from Congress and clashing with McCarthy over the latter’s support of Donald Trump, told CNN that the presumed speaker has made many promises to Greene and other hard-right conservatives.
Right-wing Republicans won’t be happy if McCarthy has to make deals with Democrats to get essential things done, Kinzinger said, and he could end up as their political hostage.
“I honestly don’t think he’ll last long,” said Kinzinger. “Maybe he’ll prove me wrong. But it’s sad to see a man who I think had so much potential completely sell himself.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: McCarthy wants to keep 3 Democrats off committees – if he’s speaker
