U.S. House punishes Republican congresswoman over incendiary remarks

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of two high-profile committee assignments on Thursday, punishing the Republican congresswoman for incendiary remarks that included support for violence against Democrats.   

In a test of unity for a House Republican caucus riven by division, nearly 95 percent of Republicans voted to oppose the punishment after Greene expressed regret for remarks made before she entered office but failed to apologize.   

Eleven Republicans joined Democrats in a 230-199 vote to approve the Democratic-backed resolution, which stripped Greene of her seats on the House Budget Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.   
“I have never encountered a situation like the one before us now, where a member has made such vile and hurtful statements, engaged in the harassment of colleagues and expressed support for political violence,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said before the vote.   

Hoyer walked across the House floor, holding up a campaign photo showing Greene with an assault rifle next to three Democratic congresswomen - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar - and calling her their “worst nightmare.”   

The vote to punish Greene, a first-term lawmaker from Georgia and ally of former President Donald Trump, came a day after the chamber’s Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, opted not to reprimand her.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) 4 February 2021