House Democrats voted to strip Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of his two committee assignments, overriding the purview of GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and greatly handicapping Gosar’s ability to represent Arizona’s 4th Congressional District in Congress.

It’s the second time Democrats have used their slim majority to kick GOP lawmakers off committees in a year.

In February, Democrats voted to remove Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her panel assignments in a move that also overruled McCarthy and, at the time, was unprecedented.

Come January 2023, the GOP may seek revenge.

Republicans, who are poised to win back the House majority in next year’s midterm elections, are signaling they may retaliate against Democrats with their own committee assignment vetoes of lawmakers they say don’t belong on important panels due to provocative statements or personal actions.

The list of GOP targets for committee removal includes Rep. Eric Swalwell, who Republicans say should be pulled from the intelligence panel because the California Democrat engaged (unknowingly) in a romantic relationship with a Chinese spy.

Others on the list include House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who has made provocative public comments Republicans say were an incitement for violence, and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who Republicans say should have no place on the Foreign Affairs Committee because she has tweeted antisemitic tropes and statements in favor of terrorists.

McCarthy wouldn’t deny the GOP will use the same tactics employed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi if he wins the gavel back from her grasp, beginning with those three lawmakers.

“Pelosi has set new policies here,” McCarthy said. “This isn’t about threats, but it’s about holding people accountable. I think the majority is going to have to approve any of those members on the committees of which they could serve.”

Tensions between the two parties have escalated dramatically since the attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Democratic lawmakers reported feeling threatened by the GOP, some of whom they claimed aided the protesters in accessing secure areas of the Capitol with the intent of causing harm.

Democratic lawmakers said they feared gun-carrying Republicans might aim at them in the House chamber.

Shortly after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Pelosi took the unprecedented step of arming each door to the chamber with metal detectors. Those who do not comply are subject to thousands of dollars in fines.

In February, they voted to remove Greene from the Budget Committee and the Education and Labor Committee after old social media posts before her election surfaced in which she appeared to endorse violent rhetoric aimed at Pelosi and other Democrats.

Before the vote to punish Greene, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer foisted a blown-up image of a Greene campaign ad depicting her with a gun next to the photos of key liberal Democrats, including Omar.

Democrats voted unanimously to remove Greene from her only committee assignments. The move was unprecedented at the time.

Traditionally, committee assignments are decided by the respective party leaders. But Democrats justified the move because of the violent nature of Greene’s comments and the overall threat level against lawmakers in the wake of Jan. 6. They rejected McCarthy’s effort to keep Greene on one committee or to send the matter to the Ethics Committee, which has historically served as the internal adjudicator for lawmaker misconduct.

Democrats used the same argument to punish Gosar, who they also voted to censure, the most severe punishment the House can mete out except for expulsion.

They argued the House needed to act urgently after Gosar tweeted an anime video depicting him assassinating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat. The video also depicted Gosar assassinating President Joe Biden.

“We cannot have members joking about murdering each other or threatening the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.

They also voted unanimously to strip Gosar of his posts on the oversight and reform panel and the Natural Resources Committee, overriding McCarthy, who had no plans to remove Gosar from his only two panel assignments.

Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and the ranking member of the Rules Committee, warned the Democrats’ precedent-setting actions to trample the minority will create a new level of partisan retaliation in the already deeply divided Congress.

“This is a dark and dangerous road the majority is going down,” Cole said.

Pelosi also vetoed several McCarthy appointees to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, leading McCarthy to pull all his GOP picks. The panel includes two anti-Trump Republicans, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, both appointed by Pelosi and at odds with McCarthy over his allegiance to Trump.

Pelosi scoffed at the notion she should fear GOP retaliation if Republicans win back the House, as many political analysts now predict.

“We would not walk away from our responsibilities for fear of something they may do in the future,” Pelosi said.

Original Location: Democrats keep punishing Republicans. Will the GOP retaliate?

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