A promotion for Ilhan Omar: Democrats voted her number 2 on the House Budget Committee

Ilhan Omar (D-MN) recently received a promotion within the House Democratic caucus. After being ousted from the Foreign Affairs Committee in February, she was promoted to another important legislative body. Her colleagues voted her to be number 2 on the House Budget Committee. A member of “The Squad,” she arrived on Capitol Hill in January 2019 following the 2018 midterm elections.

The congresswoman celebrated this vote and expressed her opinion in a press release. “I am thrilled to be voted in as Vice-Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee by my democratic colleagues. Budgets are a reflection of our values. I am particularly excited to join our excellent leadership under Ranking Member, Brendan Boyle, to ensure we push for a people-centered budget that invests in the needs of the American people,” she wrote.

“It is more important than ever to fight for a future budget that invests in universal health care, debt-free higher education, and tackles the climate crisis—and that change starts with the House Budget Committee,” she added.

The committee does not directly fund the initiatives mentioned by the legislator, but it establishes general spending levels that may guide bill allocations.

Omar’s expulsion from the Foreign Affairs Committee

The GOP won the congresswoman’s expulsion in February with 218 votes in favor, 211 against from Democrats, and a “present” vote from Congressman Dave Joyce (R-OH). Kevin McCarthy dismissed this as not being a retaliation measure, given that Democrats ousted some Republicans from all of their committee assignments during the 117th Congress, specifically Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

“If it was tit for tat, we would have picked people, took them off all committees, and said nothing about it […] We’re not removing her from other committees. We just do not believe when it comes to foreign affairs, especially the responsibility of that position around the world with the comments that she makes. She shouldn’t serve there,” the Speaker of the House said at a press conference.

Negotiations among Republicans to approve Omar’s removal lasted more than a week. Some simply did not want to participate in a move that could be perceived as a settling of scores, but ultimately, they voted in favor.

The move was welcomed by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which issued a statement on the matter. “For years, Democratic leadership has failed to hold Rep. Ilhan Omar accountable for her vile, hateful, and dangerous anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Today, Republicans, under Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership, kept their promise to remove Rep. Omar from the prestigious and crucially important House Foreign Affairs Committee,” they said in the statement.

Omar, 40, a native of Somalia, came to Congress in 2019 after being elected in the 2018 midterm elections. She is one of the founders of the progressive legislative group known as “The Squad,” which also includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Summer Lee, Greg Casar and Delia Ramirez.