Washington – The House must vote on a measure to remove the controversial Republican congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene of its committee’s duties, while House Democrats seek to punish the Republican legislator for a litany of incendiary comments and to force Republican Party members to condemn or defend it.
In social media posts and videos taken before she was elected to Congress, Greene, a freshman from Georgia, embraced a number of far-right conspiracy theories, including questioning whether lethal school shootings had been staged. Supporter of the fantastic QAnon conspiracy theory, she also shared videos with anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiments and expressed support for violence against Democratic leaders in Congress.
How to watch the House vote on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene today
- What: The Chamber votes in a measure to remove the representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of your committee assignments
- Meeting: Thursday, February 4, 2021
- Time: Expected vote at 4 pm ET
- Location: Washington DC
- Stream online: Live on CBSN on the player above and on your mobile or streaming device
House Democrats took advantage of newly emerged posts and videos to demand that Republican leaders remove Greene from his seats on the House Budget Committee and the Education and Labor Committee. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy refused to do so, prompting Democratic leaders to seek a resolution on the House floor to remove it.
With the vote scheduled for Thursday afternoon, Democrats will force ordinary Republican members to openly declare whether they believe Greene should stick to committee positions. Democrats slammed their seats on the Education and Labor Committee in particular, due to previous promotion of Greene’s conspiracy theories related to the school shootings in Parkland and Newtown.
In a speech to the House plenary before the vote, Greene said the 9/11 terrorist attacks did indeed occur and that she believes that children deserve protection from school shootings.
“These are words from the past and these things don’t represent me, they don’t represent my district and they don’t represent my values,” said Greene. However, she also equated the press with QAnon, saying the media was as divisive as the insidious conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon supporters.
McCarthy said in a statement on Wednesday that he “unequivocally” condemned Greene’s previous statements, but portrayed the Democrats’ move to remove it from the committees as a takeover. Other Republicans also condemned Greene’s comments, but warned Democrats against setting a precedent in which the majority party dictates the role of the minority party committee.
At a lengthy Republican conference meeting on Wednesday night, Greene express remorse for his previous comments and previous support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
At the same meeting, Mrs Liz Cheney avoided an effort for her to be removed from her leadership role in the Republican Party because of her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the attack on the Capitol. However, 61 members of the Republican Party voted to expel her from the leadership, suggesting deep divisions within the Republican caucus over the party’s direction in the future.
House Democrats advanced resolution calling for Greene to be expelled from the committees during a meeting of the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, establishing a vote on Thursday afternoon in plenary.
The refusal of Republican Party leaders to exercise their authority to remove Greene from his committee assignments contrasts with the way they handled a similar situation in 2019, when the party’s steering committee chose to remove then Congressman Steve King of his committees on comments that defend white supremacy.
Congressional Democrats tried to tie House Republicans to Greene’s extremist positions. In a statement on Wednesday, spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office referred to McCarthy as “Q-CA”, labeling him Congressman QAnon of California.