House Democrats Monday unveiled legislation to remove Georgia Republican Rep. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House budget and education committees, as they pressure Republicans to rebuke the Georgia congresswoman over past statements, The New York Post reports.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, is planning to deliver an ultimatum to House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Greene this week, according to CNN. Hoyer is expected to tell McCarthy that Republicans have 72 hours to unilaterally strip Greene of her committee assignments, or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor.
The legislation is sponsored by former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). The two-page bill reads: “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from her committee assignments in light of conduct she has exhibited.”
According to The New York Post the bill doesn’t cite specific offenses to justify removal, but Democrats have blasted the just-sworn-in congresswoman for past statements “reflecting either strident political rhetoric or open-mindedness to conspiracy theories.”
The pressure from Democrats came just hours before Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Taylor Greene’s embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies” a “cancer for the Republican Party.”“loony lies” a “cancer for the Republican Party.”
“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality,” said McConnell, R-Ky., referring to a handful of conspiracy theories that Greene has publicized in the past. “This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”
Hoyer, meanwhile, said in a statement, “It is my hope and expectation that Republicans will do the right thing and hold Rep. Greene accountable, and we will not need to consider this resolution. But we are prepared to do so if necessary.”
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds vote and is considered unlikely.