Why do Republicans want to remove Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar from her committees?

Several Republican lawmakers have called for Rep. Ilhan Omar to be stripped of her committee assignments in an act of retaliation after House Democrats looked to have newly-elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene removed from her committee roles.

QAnon conspiracy theorist and staunchly pro-Trump, Rep. Greene has drawn a lot attention in her first weeks in office over her controversial views and comments. Earlier this week, Democrats launched an attempt to have the Republican representative removed from the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee on the grounds that that she has given voice to wild conspiracy theories and endorsed political violence.

The Democrats have given House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy a Thursday deadline to remove Rep Green from her committees. If he doesn’t, they will move ahead to pass a resolution to do so themselves.

Republicans hit back with Omar amendment

Meanwhile, some House Republicans have fired back with an amendment that would remove left-wing Rep. Omar from her committees instead of Rep. Greene. The amendment was proposed by Texas Rep. Brian Babin (R-Tex.), who has called for Greene’s name to be replaced by that of Omar in the resolution.

"If the Democrat Majority wants to go down this road, they should start by dealing with their own members who have been at this before and AFTER their election to Congress," Babin tweeted on Tuesday.

A handful of right-wing GOP representatives have backed Rep. Babin’s amendment, including Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Georgia Rep. Jody Hice.

Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Biggs compared Greene’s comments to remarks made by Omar and other Democrats, which he claimed were “offensive or dangerous”.

"On the other hand, you have comments from Ilhan Omar, Nancy Pelosi ... a whole plethora of folks who, while they're sitting here, have made offensive or dangerous statements as well," Biggs said, without giving any specific details.

"We're really trying to say, look, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander, but maybe what should happen is we let Republicans take care of our own, and you Democrats take care of your own," he continued, "and when someone is elected — and by the way, most of these statements were known when [Greene] was running, and she won overwhelmingly."

However, given that the Democrats have a majority in the House, Babin's amendment is likely dead in the water, meaning the resolution would remove Greene, and not Omar, from committee roles – as Democrats had planned.