Vote on hate resolution was ‘the moment the Democratic socialist wing took over the party’ by Susan Ferrechio
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday that this week marked the takeover of the House Democrats by socialists in their party after they managed to avoid a vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism.
McCarthy told reporters that this week marked “the moment the Democratic socialist wing took over the party.”
House Democrats initially moved to vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., rattled off a series of tweets that many saw as anti-Semitic. But instead, Democrats rewrote the resolution so it condemned most imaginable forms of hate speech and bigotry, including efforts by white supremacists to put down most racial groups.
Omar was never named in the resolution, and McCarthy said Republicans are still considering whether to push for a vote that condemns her specifically.
“No decisions have been made on that yet,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said when asked if Republicans planned to take further floor action against the lawmaker, such as a vote to censure her.
Thursday’s vote was the second time in two months the House voted to indirectly rebuke Omar, a freshman who on Thursday issued a statement praising the measure’s denouncement of both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
Republicans said the resolution dodged directly dealing with Omar and the rise of anti-Semitism in America, although most in the party voted for the measure.
The GOP is in the minority and have few legislative powers but could offer a resolution to reprimand, censure, or otherwise rebuke Omar, which would force Democrats to reject it or agree to debate and vote on it.
Such a resolution could win support among Democrats, some of whom complained on the floor Thursday about the broad measure and said Omar has not publicly apologized for a recent tweet equating support of Israel to “dual loyalty.”
McCarthy said Democratic lawmakers have approached him to say they believe Omar should be stripped of her Foreign Affairs Committee seat.
McCarthy would not name the Democrats.
“They have a clear problem on the Democratic side,” McCarthy said. “We are very united and frustrated that the Democratic party has now been taken over by the socialist progressive wing of their side.”
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