Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) issued strong rebukes of the GOP after the House voted along party lines on Thursday to remove Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) from her spot on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a move that Democrats and progressives have decried as racist and Islamophobic.
“It is an outrage that every Republican voted to remove [Omar] — a third term Muslim American woman — from the Foreign Affairs committee. Our job is to unite the American people, not divide them based on their race and religion,” Sanders said on Twitter on Thursday.
“What a disgraceful day for the House,” he said.
Warren also pointed out that Omar’s removal is likely motivated by the representative’s religion and her race as a Black woman. “The House GOP just removed the only refugee and the only African-born member of Congress from the Foreign Affairs Committee. [Omar]’s voice strengthens Congress and our nation,” Warren wrote. “I know she’ll keep on using it despite this disgusting attempt to silence her.”
The statements echoed sentiments expressed by Omar herself, who has said that the reason she is being targeted is racist, Islamophobic bigotry among the GOP, which she has faced the entirety of her time serving in the House.
“Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy, or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced?” Omar said on the House floor before the vote.
Lawmakers and analysts have said that removing Omar serves several purposes for the GOP. It appeases the furthest right members of their caucus, like Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) and Lauren Boebert (Colorado), who have both lobbed virulently hateful, Islamophobic attacks against Omar in past years. It’s also an opportunity for Republicans to amplify bad faith arguments, using accusations of antisemitism as a bludgeon against the Democratic Party.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) said in a CNN interview that it is evident that Republicans are removing Omar as a cynical political game. She pointed out that GOP leaders have elevated Representatives George Santos (New York), Paul Gosar (Arizona) and Greene into top committee assignments despite their past concerning and offensive behaviors.
“These are individuals, Majorie Taylor Greene included, inciting violence against specific members in the [House] — [McCarthy] has appointed all three of them to House committees, not just one, but multiple,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Majorie Taylor Greene, who was engaging in 9/11 conspiracy theories — Kevin McCarthy appointed her to the Homeland Security Committee.”
“So there is really no consistency here and it needs to be very well known that this targeting of Ilhan Omar is because the Republican base finds it easy, the Republican base finds it politically self-rewarding, and I also believe that the Republican base seeks to remove a perspective that challenges a certain foreign policy establishment in this country,” she continued.
Indeed, as Jewish Currents editor at large Peter Beinart wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, Omar has been a powerful voice in the Foreign Affairs Committee, bringing up many issues of inhumanity and oppression around the world when other lawmakers would not. In a 2021 hearing on China’s violent oppression of Uyghurs, for instance, Omar raised the fact that the U.S. has also committed atrocities against Uyghurs, having imprisoned Uyghur people in Guantánamo Bay in the past.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $115,000 in one-time donations and to add 1365 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy