House Democrats file resolution to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments

WASHINGTON — A group of House Democrats introduced a resolution in the House Monday that would remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from her two committee assignments as a consequence for her inflammatory and false statements.

The resolution, sponsored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., Ted Deutch, D-Fla., and Jahana Hayes, D-Conn, would remove Greene from the House Education & Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee.

Greene, a freshman congresswoman, came under scrutiny last week over past remarks she made, including ones suggesting that school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, were staged as well as her claim that the 2018 California wildfires were started by “Jewish space lasers.”

“Reducing the future harm that she can cause in Congress, and denying her a seat at committee tables where fact-based policies will be drafted, is both a suitable punishment and a proper restraint of her influence,” Wasserman Schultz said during a virtual press conference.

“If Republicans won’t police their own, the House must step in,” she continued, adding that the congresswoman could resign but noted that’s unlikely and the chances of expulsion are slim because it would require a two-thirds vote in the House.

Wasserman Schultz, whose district is near Parkland, said that if Greene “cannot be entrusted to make education and budget policy” if she is unwilling to accept the reality of mass school shootings.

Deutch represents Parkland and said during the press conference that this is a “line-in-the-sand moment for the Republican Party” and “the question quite simply is whether they will draw the line when a member of the Republican caucus moves far beyond political rhetoric and into what is extremely dangerous misinformation deeply offensive, harassment and the refusal to acknowledge truth.”

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting, spoke along with the lawmakers on Monday. and warned that if Republicans don’t take action against Greene, the events of Jan. 6 when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol would be “only the beginning.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is expected to speak to Greene this week, but it’s unclear if the party will take any action against her.