OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Minority Leader and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy has some major plans for when Republicans officially are in charge of the House.
On January 3, day one of the 118th Congress, the man presumed to be the next Speaker of the House wants the entire Constitution read into the Congressional record.
“On the very first day of the new Republican-led Congress, we will read every single word of the Constitution aloud from the floor of the House—something that hasn’t been done in years,” he said.
On the very first day of the new Republican-led Congress, we will read every single word of the Constitution aloud from the floor of the House—something that hasn't been done in years.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) November 25, 2022
In 2011 Republicans made the reading of the Constitution an annual tradition, but it presumably stopped when Democrats regained the House in 2018, The Western Journal reported.
The reading of the Constitution in the House could be compared to an older Senate tradition in which President George Washington’s Farewell Address is read aloud by senators.
That annual tradition dates back to 1896 and is practiced regardless of the upper chamber’s partisan majority.
As the leader of the Republican Party’s caucus in the House, McCarthy is slated to take the role of speaker of the House from Nancy Pelosi in January.
McCarthy already won an internal GOP leadership contest, surviving a symbolic challenge from Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs.
But he’ll need to be elected speaker on the House floor, and he isn’t a sure bet to secure the speakership with ease.
McCarthy said that if elected Speaker, he will remove Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar from congressional committees for past conduct.
During an interview on Fox News with host Maria Bartiromo, McCarthy spoke about Republicans winning back control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections. McCarthy, who appears poised to be nominated as the speaker, said he will honor his promise to boot the three controversial Democrats.
“Congressman, let me ask you about your decisions should you become the speaker of the House in January. What are you going to do in terms of these Democrats that you have on such important committees? You’ve talked in the past about removing I’ll hand to or mar, about Ilhan Omar, you’ve talked about removing Adam Schiff, about Eric Swalwell. Will you deliver?” Bartiromo asked McCarthy.
“Yes, I will. I’ll keep that promise. And one thing I’ve said from the very beginning, Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance in the secrets of America? So I will not allow him to be on Intel. You have Adam Schiff who had lied to the American public time and again. We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either. Look, Congresswoman Omar, her anti-Semitic comments that have gone forward, we’re not going to allow her to be on Foreign Affairs. But we’re also going to stand up to what’s happening not just in the halls of Congress, but what’s happening to our higher education institutions, the anti-Semitism that’s going on on these campuses and others. We’ll investigate that as well and stop this to make sure that America does have the freedoms that we said we would keep and we would stand up to it as we move forward,” McCarthy declared.
McCarthy said he planned to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over several past “antisemitic” remarks.
“We watch antisemitism grow, not just on our campuses, but we watched it grow In the halls of Congress,” he told the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2022 leadership meeting in Las Vegas.
“I promised you last year that as Speaker, she will no longer be on Foreign Affairs, and I’m keeping that promise,” he said as the audience cheered.
McCarthy tweeted: “The Speaker does not have the power to remove a member from a standing committee. Foreign Affairs is a standing committee. Each party has their own rules and procedures for assigning committee roles. Only a majority vote by the entire house could remove Rep. Omar.”
Last year, I promised that when I became Speaker, I would remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee based on her repeated anti-semitic and anti-American remarks.
I'm keeping that promise. pic.twitter.com/04blBx3neD
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) November 19, 2022
McCarthy is the top candidate for the Speakership, but he can’t afford to lose many votes due to the party’s slim majority.
