Republicans Are Already Lining Up to Oppose Kevin McCarthy's Key Promise

Some Republicans have recently expressed their discontent with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, opposing his goal to block some lawmakers from serving on their committees.

The House minority leader, who has already announced some of his goals he wants to pursue if he secures House speakership next year, previously vowed that he would prevent some Democratic lawmakers from serving on their committees if he becomes House speaker. He repeatedly promised that he would remove California Representatives Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, who both serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

However, McCarthy, a California Republican, might face pushback from some members of his own party who think that such a move is not necessary. House Republicans recently voted 188-31 by secret ballot to nominate McCarthy for House speaker after the GOP narrowly took control of the House in this year's midterm elections.

"I'm not going to support it," Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina recently told Axios, adding that the GOP previously rejected similar moves proposed by Democrats. "I try to be consistent in my values...regardless of who's in charge."

Meanwhile, California Representative David Valadao told the news outlet: "I've never been a fan of that. Members are elected by their districts...to throw them off just seems inappropriate."

"I don't think tit for tat is necessary here," said Representative Andy Barr of Kentucky, according to Axios. "We should be better than what the Democrats were."

McCarthy wants to remove Swalwell from the intelligence committee after the Democratic lawmaker was criticized by some Republicans over reports of him being targeted by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative who was seeking to form ties with United States politicians. However, Swalwell hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, The Hill previously reported.

The California Republican is also going after Schiff for allegedly supporting the Steele dossier, also known as the Trump-Russia dossier, that alleged ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia. In addition, McCarthy is targeting Omar over her remarks about Israel, which he described as "antisemitic."

However, the House speaker doesn't have the authority to remove a member from a standing committee. Foreign Affairs, which Omar serves on, is one of those committees. In addition, a majority vote by the entire House is needed in order to remove a lawmaker.

"The Speaker may remove Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner from, or appoint additional Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner to, a select or conference committee," the Committee on House Administration said on its website.

Daniel Schuman, policy director at Demand Progress, told Newsweek last month, however, that with House Republicans having the majority, they will dominate the Rules Committee and "can control what measures are considered on the floor and stop measures they don't like."

"So it is likely that an incoming Speaker McCarthy, on his own or reflective of the interests of his party, will have the power to avoid appointing anyone they don't like to any standing committee," Schuman said, who added that "removal of committee members requires a majority vote on the floor, which incoming Republicans likely would win."

Newsweek reached out to Gunner Rammer, the Republican Accountability Project and Republican Accountability PAC's political director, for comment.