According to a new Politico report out this morning, Kevin McCarthy is offering to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from a single committee in hopes that this compromise will stop Democrats from voting to remove her from all of them:
INSIDE MCCARTHY’S TENTATIVE PLAN TO DEAL WITH GREENE: During a two-hour meeting Tuesday night with Greene, McCarthy explained to the QAnon supporter that her controversial past statements were coming to a head. The problem, McCarthy told her: Democrats are threatening to force a vote to remove her from her committees — and that puts the entire GOP Conference in a bad spot. McCarthy tried to give Greene options, according to a person familiar with their talk: She could denounce QAnon and apologize publicly for espousing hurtful conspiracy theories and endorsing violence on Democrats. She could remove herself from the panel to spare her colleagues a vote on the matter. Or, she could face removal from her own GOP peers.
It must not have gone as well as McCarthy hoped, because he then called a late-night meeting with the panel that designates committee assignments to discuss removing Greene. According to our sources, the room agreed that a House vote on this issue would be catastrophic politically for their members who are already angry at being associated with Greene’s crazy statements. That must be avoided, they concurred.
McCarthy told the room he would speak with House Majority Leader STENY HOYER to try to broker a deal. McCarthy would offer to remove Greene from one committee — Education and Labor — if Democrats back off a House floor vote to remove her from both. (Greene also sits on the Budget Committee.)
It is unclear whether Hoyer will go for this. The pressure on Democratic leaders to do something drastic to punish Greene is only increasing. McCarthy’s members also talked about re-appointing Greene to another committee Tuesday night, but that will never fly with Democrats.
It’s important to note the plans could all change if Greene apologizes or removes herself, or if Democrats refuse to back off their threatened vote. But Republicans in the room complained about how bad a precedent Democrats dictating GOP committee assignments sets — and also expressed worry about Democrats making Greene a martyr with the Republican base when they just want her to go away.
I don’t remember Pelosi ever caving like this over the statements that Ilhan Omar made. She was never removed from any committees that I can recall even though the stuff Ilhan was saying was clearly anti-Semitic, as it had even upset Jewish members of her own caucus.
It’s almost like Democrats don’t remember any of this and don’t care. They are going to move ahead to try and tar the GOP with the past stuff that Greene has said, as if they are clean as a whistle. And the media has their back.