POLITICO Playbook PM: Hoyer to McCarthy: No deal on QAnon congresswoman

 

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is pictured. | Getty Images

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer rejected Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s proposal to remove the QAnon supporter from only one of her two committee posts. |

POLITICO Playbook PM: Hoyer to McCarthy: No deal on QAnon congresswoman

By RACHAEL BADE, ELI OKUN and GARRETT ROSS  02/03/2021 01:03 PM EST

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2021/02/03/hoyer-to-mccarthy-no-deal-on-qanon-congresswoman-491625

 

BREAKING: HOYER SHOOTS DOWN MCCARTHY ON MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE — During a private phone call around lunch time, House Majority Leader STENY HOYER rejected Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY’S proposal to remove the QAnon supporter from only one of her two committee posts. As we first reported this morning, McCarthy was making a last-ditch attempt to stave off a floor vote that would force the GOP to go on record about the Georgia Republican’s fate.

 

Still, the offer wasn’t exactly appealing: We hear that McCarthy insisted that if Democrats removed Greene from the Education and Labor panel, Republicans would want to put her on another committee. No wonder Hoyer said no.

 

Republicans now face a choice: Do they just remove Greene from both her committees on their own — or let the Democrats do it for them? Given the fear we were hearing about in McCarthy’s steering panel meeting Tuesday night, you’d think the choice would be obvious.

 

Members were going on and on, we were told, about how this vote would pit GOP members against a base that likes Greene because of her pro-Trump enthusiasm — and swing voters repelled by any vote suggesting they’re protecting a woman who endorsed violence and questioned the veracity of school shootings.

 

If they were willing to take her off one panel, is it that much of a stretch to take her off a second? The clock is ticking. The vote is scheduled for Thursday.

 

Republicans, our Democratic sources tell us, didn’t help their case when they started threatening retaliation against Democratic members. Rep. BRIAN BABIN (R-Texas) on Tuesday proposed removing Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.) from the committee on foreign affairs, presumably because of her past statements about Israel and American Jews. This angered Democratic leaders.

 

Here’s Hoyer’s statement: “I spoke to Leader McCarthy this morning, and it is clear there is no alternative to holding a floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments.”