After days of caginess, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy released a statement Wednesday afternoon revealing that he intends to do nothing to punish Rep. Marjorie Greene (R-GA) for approving of calls for the execution of Democratic officials online.
“While Democrats pursue a resolution on Congresswoman Greene, they continue to do nothing about Democrats serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee who have spread anti-Semitic tropes, Democrats on the House Intelligence and Homeland Security Committee compromised by Chinese spies, or the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee who advocated for violence against public servants,” he said in a heaping dose of bad faith both siderism for the Fox News crowd.
McCarthy’s inaction was telegraphed by the posture of Republicans on the House Rules Committee that met earlier Wednesday afternoon to debate a resolution that would strip Greene of her committee assignments.
While many of them said they found Greene’s comments offensive, they all quickly pivoted to arguing that punishing her through a floor vote would set damaging precedent in punishing members for actions they took before they got elected, and giving the majority party power to decide which committees members of the minority can sit on.
Democrats seemed baffled by the argument, retorting that they wouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place if McCarthy had punished Greene himself. Many pointed to the case of former Rep. Steve King (R-IA) who McCarthy finally stripped of his committee assignments after years of racist comments.
Now, though, McCarthy has confirmed that he won’t take any action. He did not take action to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from her leadership position, telling reporters that “Liz has the right to vote her conscience” and that the end of the day, they’re “united.” If he didn’t punish Greene for liking a comment desiring to put a bullet in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) head, but did punish Cheney for her “yes” vote on impeachment, he’d be solidly aligning the party with the forces of conspiracy and violence.
Much to the Republicans’ chagrin, Greene probably will be stripped of her committee assignments anyway, on the back of Democratic votes. The Rules Committee passed the resolution Wednesday evening, and the full House will vote Thursday.
This post has been updated.
