38 Members Of Congress Demand Removal Of Lauren Boebert From Committees

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Opposition to keeping Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on committees in the House is growing after footage emerged of her repeatedly targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on the basis of the latter’s Muslim faith. Now, a full 38 House Democrats have signed onto a joint statement calling for Boebert’s removal from her committee seats in the House as a mechanism of punishment for her remarks. On more than one occasion, Boebert mockingly compared Omar — who was born in Somalia before becoming a U.S. citizen — to a suicide bomber.

The House is able to remove members from their committee roles with a simple majority of the chamber in favor of the move. The new joint statement against Boebert reads, in part, as follows:

‘[We] refuse to stand by as Islamophobia, anti-Blackness, anti-immigrant sentiment, and xenophobia are trafficked into the halls of Congress by members of the Republican party. Today, we are calling for Rep. Boebert to be removed from her committee assignments. Our response to behavior that creates a dangerous work environment and furthers a climate of toxicity and intolerance cannot be silence. Congress cannot forgo accountability when a Member engages in hate speech that dehumanizes not only a colleague, but an entire people. We cannot be complicit as members of this body, who swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States, trample on the fundamental right of religious freedom.’

Members who signed onto this statement demanding Boebert’s removal from House committees include Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and others. The statement emerged soon after a statement came out from caucus chairs in the House calling for the same punishment to be meted out against Boebert. Those who signed onto that previous statement include Jayapal (who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D-Calif.).

The newer statement insists that members of Congress “owe it to [Muslim constituents], and to every person who has been the recipient of harassment and verbal abuse based on their religion, race, gender, sexuality, or other identity, to stand up and show them that their votes to send us here mean something — that our values mean something, and are worth defending.” Within the House GOP, there’s been a predictably almost non-existent level of pushback against Boebert’s vitriol, as though casually — and derisively — comparing political opponents to suicide bombers is something that should just be accepted as a fact of life among Congressional Republicans at this point. Read the new statement by clicking on the post below: