Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar get committee assignments
By Melanie Zanona and Manu Raju, CNN
Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona have been given committee assignments for the new Congress, after being booted from their committees by Democrats and some Republicans for their incendiary remarks, sources told CNN.
The House GOP Steering Committee on Tuesday agreed to place Greene on the House Homeland Security Committee, which has jurisdiction over the border and will likely play a role in potentially impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
And Gosar got a seat on the House Committee on Natural Resources, where he previously served.
Both decisions were made unanimously by the steering panel, sources told CNN, which is stocked with members who are close to and a part of House GOP leadership. The committee rosters will still need to be ratified by the entire House GOP, but typically the conference approves whatever the Steering Committee recommends.
Greene and Gosar were also among several GOP hardliners — which also included Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania — added to the House Oversight Committee, according to Republican sources.
The addition of Greene is notable since she had lobbied for that spot and was a prominent defender of Kevin McCarthy’s during the speaker’s race. Gosar, who like Greene lost committee spots in the last Congress as Democratic retaliation for incendiary remarks, voted against McCarthy but later flipped to him.
McCarthy has long vowed to put Greene and Gosar back on committees, while he has pledged to kick some House Democrats off of theirs.
Perry also ultimately supported McCarthy after opposing him. Boebert helped McCarthy win by voting “present.”
The addition of the hardliners will give them the ability to shape some of the most aggressive investigations into the Biden administration.
Both chambers of Congress are out of session for the week, but the Steering Committee is meeting Tuesday to nail down committee assignments for members of the Republican Conference. Capitol Hill observers have been waiting to see which lawmakers will end up on which committees in the new GOP-controlled House, given the role those panels will play in investigating the Biden administration.
Rep. Roger Williams, a Texas Republican who is chairing the Small Business Committee, told CNN that embattled freshman Rep. George Santos of New York will be named to his panel. Santos has faced calls for his resignation, including from Republicans, following revelations that he repeatedly lied about his resume and identity.
“I don’t condone what he said, what he’s done,” Williams told CNN. “I don’t think anybody does. But that’s not my role. He was elected. He represents a million people.”
Santos was also awarded a seat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, according to multiple GOP sources.
The House voted in February 2021 to remove Greene from her committee assignments following incendiary and violent past statements including that she repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians before being elected to Congress.
In November 2021, the House voted to censure Gosar and remove him from his committees after he posted a photoshopped anime video to social media showing him appearing to kill Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.
McCarthy has repeatedly cited Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both of California, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota of examples of Democratic lawmakers whom he would remove from their committee assignments. Schiff and Swalwell serve on the House Intelligence Committee, while Omar serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
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CNN’s Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.
