Precedent set by Nancy Pelosi, precedent followed by Kevin McCarthy. In the previous session of the House, Pelosi stripped Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments over a “like” on a tweet that suggested someone start shooting House Democrats — for which Greene later apologized. Now that the gavel has returned to the GOP, McCarthy plans to return the favor for three House Democrats — but really just one:
McCARTHY confirms Swalwell, Schiff & Omar will be off committees they’d previously served: intel/foreign affairs.
“Swalwell can’t get a security clearance in the private sector. I’m not going to give him a government security clearance. Schiff has lied to the American public…”
— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) January 10, 2023
Why just one? Eric Swalwell’s time on Intel was already up, and Omar’s assignment was subject to a House vote anyway:
The move is largely symbolic, as Swalwell is already due to be rotated off his committee, and Omar’s assignment is subject to a House vote that would likely be rejected by the GOP majority.
McCarthy first voiced the possibility of removing Democrats from their committee assignments in mid-November, shortly after Republicans won control of the House. He especially hit out against Swalwell and Schiff, accusing the two lawmakers of being untrustworthy.
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“Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance in the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel,” McCarthy told Fox News at the time. “You have Adam Schiff, who had lied to the American public time and again. We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either.”
Essentially, then, McCarthy will only target Schiff for committee-stripping retribution. And that will likely be the most well-founded and politically significant move anyway. Schiff has repeatedly lied in his public statements about the evidence in the Russia-collusion probe, employing tactics of Joe McCarthy and hiding behind his access to classified material to toss unfounded accusations about his political opponents.
Even worse, and also completely substantiated in the Twitter Files, Schiff abused his position as committee chair to silence and censor his political opponents on line, including journalist Paul Sperry, who exposed Schiff’s lies. If Democrats attempt to claim that their action on Greene was a limited precedent based on gross misbehavior, that won’t do anything to argue against booting Schiff not just from his Intel assignment but all of his committee seats.
Let’s not forget too that this will likely be Schiff’s last term anyway. Dianne Feinstein is expected to stand down rather than run for re-election in 2024, and Schiff has made no secret of his ambition to replace her. With all of these black marks popping up on his record, Schiff might still change his mind, but it’s in the interest of the GOP to get these black marks on the record with as high a profile as possible before that cycle begins. Republicans likely won’t even get on the Senate ballot in 2024 thanks to the state’s all-in primary system, but at least they can try to keep Schiff off of it as well.
This still raises a question: can McCarthy win a majority vote for this action? He’ll have to bring it to the floor, just as Pelosi did two years ago with Greene:
Members can be removed from their committee assignments simply through a majority vote, according to House rules. Removing lawmakers from their committee assignments was once considered a rare and uncommon occurrence, but the practice has been used more frequently in the last 20 years to punish members for their conduct.
Will every Republican vote to remove Schiff? That may be mostly an academic question, given the animosity felt toward the California Republican, but some members may still hesitate to cement this particular precedent of retribution. Schiff’s case provides plenty of pretext for this punishment, but some members with more institutional memory of serving in the minority might wonder whether they’re sharpening an axe that might fall on their own figurative necks at some point. It’s very difficult to imagine any House Republican casting a vote to support Adam Schiff, of all people, but I wonder how many will find themselves unable to come to the House floor for this vote when it takes place.
