U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker voted alongside almost all House Republicans to protect his GOP colleague Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from getting stripped of her committee seats for her past pushing conspiracy theories and encouraging violence against Democrats.
Despite most Republicans opposing the measure, the Democrat-controlled House will now remove the freshman lawmaker from her seats on two committees: the Budget Committee and Education and Labor Committee.
Smucker would have served alongside Greene on the Budget Committee, had she not been removed on Thursday night.
Greene will now be the only member of Congress without any committee assignments.
Smucker tweeted about his opposition to House Democrats’ move to remove Greene for comments she made prior to her election to the chamber, calling the move “egregious.”
Greene's past comments were "despicable and indefensible," Smucker said. He added he accepts her apology and expects her "to do better" as a member of Congress.
1/6- The unprecedented move of the House Democrats voting to remove a member of the Republican Conference from her committees for something she said BEFORE she was elected. Their behavior is egregious.
— Rep. Lloyd Smucker (@RepSmucker) February 4, 2021
“If House Democrats want to police speech or actions of sitting members, then they must begin with members of their own caucus,” Smucker added, and listed past controversial comments from Reps. Maxine Waters, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Eric Swalwell as examples Democrats should examine.
“One member of the so-called ‘Squad’ made comments about 9/11 that were more than insulting to the families of those lost that day, describing the terrorist attack as ‘some people did something,'" Smucker said in a tweet, referencing Omar’s comments in a March 2019 speech for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“House Democrats’ double-standard is not only wrong it is further dividing and damaging our nation,” Smucker added.
In total, 11 Republicans joined House Democrats to vote in support of removing Greene from her committees, including one Pennsylvania Republican, Bucks County’s Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
