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Tags: democrats | house | committees | mccarthy

House Dems Prepare for Denials on Three Key Committee Seats

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U.S. Capitol building (Getty Images)

By    |   Wednesday, 18 January 2023 11:09 AM EST

House Democrats are getting ready for the GOP leadership to deny key lawmakers spots on key committees, including rejecting California Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell seats on the Intelligence Committee and following through with a push to kick Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., out of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is expected to nominate Schiff as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, but if House Speaker Kevin McCarthy removes him, as is expected, Democrats won't be able to block that move, reports The Washington Post, quoting a source said to be familiar with the process.

"There are other committees that are less political," a senior Democrat leadership aide said. This includes the House Appropriations Committee, from which Schiff has been on leave while heading the Intelligence Committee, and its first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

Jeffries could also appoint Schiff to one of the new select committees the Republican majority has created, including groups to investigate China, another to probe the government's handling of the pandemic, as well as a committee to investigate the weaponization of the federal government.

And while McCarthy told Fox News last week he wouldn't block any of the representatives Jeffries picks for the new select committees, Schiff may not want to serve on a panel that will focus on investigations after coming off the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks, considering he will soon be working on his reelection bid for 2024.

It will take a vote by the whole House to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. She says she is anticipating being reappointed to the committee, and has apologized to both sides after making comments lawmakers have condemned as being antisemitic.

Meanwhile, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., have been given two assignments each after having been removed from their committees last year. They will sit on the powerful House Oversight Committee, which is expected to launch investigations on President Joe Biden, his administration, and his son, Hunter.

In 2021, 11 GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats to kick Greene off the Education and Labor Committee, as well as the Budget Committee over statements she'd made. Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio who voted to keep Greene on her committees and "present" on a vote to remove Gosar from the Oversight and Reform Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, told the Post that he thinks each party should handle their committee assignments, as it creates a "retaliatory issue" when the removals are done from the opposing party.

Meanwhile, Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., will sit on the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, even while Republicans continue to face news about how he fabricated his past while running for election.

Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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House Democrats are getting ready for the GOP leadership to deny key lawmakers spots on key committees, including rejecting California Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell seats on the Intelligence Committee.
democrats, house, committees, mccarthy
462
2023-09-18
Wednesday, 18 January 2023 11:09 AM
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