More than 40 House Democrats call for Boebert to be stripped of committee assignments over anti-Muslim attacks

Five House Democratic caucus chairs, along with 36 other members of the Progressive Caucus, are calling for Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) to be stripped of her committee assignments, citing her repeated "anti-Muslim" attacks against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

"There must be consequences for vicious workplace harassment and abuse that creates an environment so unsafe for colleagues and staff that it invites death threats against them," the Democratic chairs wrote in a letter, alluding to threats Omar has received after the attacks by Boebert.

"There must be consequences when Members of Congress demonize an entire religion and promote hate from their positions of public trust," they wrote.

The letter — signed by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus Chair David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) — also criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), saying he has not properly disciplined Boebert for her attacks.

"Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has absolutely failed in leading his caucus to condemn hatred and bigotry, much less to maintain any basic standards of decency within the halls of Congress," the five Democratic leaders wrote. "He is unwilling or unable to control his own members from inciting violence against other Members of Congress or encouraging bigotry and hatred. If he cannot lead his own caucus, he certainly will never be able to lead the House of Representatives."

Spokespeople for Boebert and McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At an event in her Colorado district last week, Boebert told supporters that an encounter with Omar was "not my first ‘Jihad Squad' moment." Boebert also shared a story in which she once rode a Capitol elevator with Omar and remarked to a Capitol Police officer: "Well, she doesn't have a backpack. We should be fine."

Omar said the story was "made up" and called for Boebert to be disciplined by House leaders.

Boebert sent a tweet Friday in which she apologized "to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Rep. Omar." But in a phone call with Omar on Monday, Boebert refused to publicly apologize and instead accused the Minnesota Democrat of "anti-American and antisemitic" rhetoric, prompting Omar to end the call.

In a separate letter, the Progressive Caucus also called for Boebert to lose her committee assignments. That letter, led by Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), André Carson (D-Ind.) and Jayapal and co-signed by 34 other caucus members, including Chu, said Boebert's actions make their work environment dangerous.

"We refuse to stand by as Islamophobia, anti-Blackness, anti-immigrant sentiment, and xenophobia are trafficked into the halls of Congress by members of the Republican party," the lawmakers wrote. "Today, we are calling for Rep. Boebert to be removed from her committee assignments. Our response to behavior that creates a dangerous work environment and furthers a climate of toxicity and intolerance cannot be silence."

House Republican leaders have been facing calls to condemn Islamophobic remarks by members of their conference, including Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), amid concern that their silence is enabling extremist rhetoric that contributes to bigotry and potential threats of violence toward Muslims.

And while the Democrats' Thursday letters target Republican leadership, no decision has been made by Democratic leadership to strip Boebert of her committee assignments.

Some Democrats have begun to privately argue that if they punish Boebert for her comments, regardless of how dangerous they are, they would spend the rest of their term censuring Republicans for other problematic remarks.

During an interview Thursday on MSNBC, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) brushed off a question on whether Democratic leadership has had conversations about Boebert's behavior.

"We're having conversations as to the appropriate actions that ought to be taken," Hoyer said, before noting that Democratic leadership is currently focused on making sure that a measure to fund the government is passed before Friday's midnight deadline. "The Boebert issue is an important issue. Islamophobia and antisemitism and racism are all critically important issues that our country must get over, must oppose and must exercise from our public polity, if you will. And we'll deal with that. But right now, we're dealing with extraordinarily important issues, and we need to get those done."

Hoyer said he did not anticipate a vote "certainly this week, or possibly next week" on Boebert's committee assignments.

The caucus leaders said in their letter that Boebert's attacks have led to "violent death threats" being leveled against Omar and a "chilling effect on other Muslim American staff members and people across this country."

During a news conference Tuesday, Omar played to reporters a threatening voice mail that she said she received after Boebert accused her of "anti-American and antisemitic" rhetoric in a video posted on social media.

Omar and two other Muslim lawmakers in the House — Carson and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — urged McCarthy to make clear that such attacks will not be tolerated within his party's ranks.

"We cannot pretend that this hate speech from leading politicians doesn't have real consequences," Omar said.

McCarthy has remained mum about Boebert's behavior.

"It should not be a partisan issue to condemn the explicit harassment and dangerous abuse of a colleague based on their religion," the caucus leaders wrote in their letter. " … In refusing to hold his membership accountable, Representative McCarthy condones this hatred and the danger it incites."

Boebert would not be the first current House Republican to lose committee assignments over incendiary remarks. Earlier this year, Greene was stripped of her committee assignments for supporting online comments encouraging violence against Democrats and peddling antisemitic tropes. In November, the House voted to censure Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) after he tweeted an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

This article was originally published by The Washington Post on December 2, 2021.