Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ11) released the following statement after the House took a bipartisan vote on H.Res. 72 to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA14) from her committee assignments:
“Today’s resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committees is an unprecedented action for an unprecedented situation. Rep. Greene has unabashedly supported conspiracy theories, racist and anti-Semitic ideology, and promoted the murder of elected officials. When asked by her own leadership to publicly apologize, she refused, and instead chose to double down on her hateful and conspiratorial statements.
“I had hoped not to have to take today’s vote to remove Rep. Greene from the Budget Committee and my committee of jurisdiction, the Education and Labor Committee. I had joined a letter to the Republican Conference asking them not to seat her on Ed and Labor, and I hoped that they would follow the precedent they themselves set in 2019, when Representative Steve King defended and promoted white nationalism. The Republican Conference took action and stripped him of his committee assignments after he refused to back down or apologize. Leader McCarthy said at the time ‘that is not the party of Lincoln and it’s definitely not American.’ Rep. Greene has gone even further and promoted the murder of elected officials, including the Speaker. This eclipses Rep. King’s vitriolic remarks, and yet Leader McCarthy refuses to act.
“I don’t take this vote lightly. I am a former federal prosecutor, I take precedent seriously. But to have a member of the House of Representatives, an institution I dearly love and a critical part of our democracy, advocate violence against the Speaker and other elected members is an act I cannot condone and one that renders her unqualified to serve on a committee. And make no mistake, her tepid statement on the floor of the House was in no way an acknowledgment of guilt nor an apology. I wish that the Republican Conference had the courage to do the right thing. But in the absence of that, the full House of Representatives, in a bipartisan vote, had to fulfill our duties to the American people and strip Rep. Greene of her committee assignments.”
The vote in the House was 230 to 199. Eleven Republicans voted with the Democrats, including Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ4).
