Two Republican lawmakers who were previously expelled from House committees over their extremist or violent remarks have been given committee assignments again, days after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) won the gavel.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will be seated on the Homeland Security Committee and Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) will be seated on the House Natural Resources Committee, according to two people familiar with the assignments who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the decisions.
Greene and Gosar, along with Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) — four of former president Donald Trump’s staunchest and most controversial allies in the House — will be seated on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. That panel’s chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), has made investigating President Biden and his family a top priority, with implications for a possible rematch between Biden and Trump in 2024.
Joining them on the Oversight Committee are fellow Freedom Caucus members Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), a lawmaker who received votes for House speaker during several of the 15 rounds of balloting this month.
“Joe Biden, be prepared,” Greene said in a statement. “We are going to uncover every corrupt business dealing, every foreign entanglement, every abuse of power.” Boebert said she was looking forward to joining the panel as it launches several investigations, including a probe of “the Biden family’s shady business schemes.” And Perry said on Twitter that he was “honored” to be on the committee.
The committee will now include a number of lawmakers who voted against certifying Biden’s 2020 presidential win after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Greene, who was first elected to Congress in 2020, was stripped of her congressional committee assignments shortly after she was sworn in for her past support of political violence and history of antisemitic and racist remarks. An outside agitator for much of her first term, Greene has been a stalwart defender of McCarthy over the past few months, pushing his candidacy for speaker over the objections of some other hard-right Republicans.
Before taking office, Greene had claimed on social media that deadly school shootings were staged, liked posts calling for the execution of Democratic leaders and federal agents, and supported the baseless theory that space lasers owned by a Jewish cabal had caused one of California’s deadliest wildfires. GOP leaders declined to punish Greene for the comments; the House later voted to remove her from committees, with 11 Republicans joining Democrats.
Greene has also courted controversy while in office. One of former president Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, she helped spread his baseless claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election. Greene later told a crowd of young Republicans that she and former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon “would have won” the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol if they had organized it.
“Not to mention, we would’ve been armed,” Greene added, in remarks that drew condemnation from the White House.
In November 2021, the House — then also controlled by Democrats — voted to censure Gosar and remove him from his committee assignments after he tweeted an altered anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging two swords at President Biden.
Democrats were highly critical of Boebert, citing her repeated “anti-Muslim” attacks against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), though they stopped short of stripping her of her committee assignments.
The powerful homeland security committee decides on the fate of legislation related to the United States’ national security — including on border security and immigration, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, election security and emergency preparedness. The committee also conducts oversight of the Homeland Security Department.
The natural resources committee, which Gosar sat on before he was expelled in 2021, considers bills about the National Parks system and other public lands, as well as on the nation’s energy, mineral and water resources. The committee also conducts oversight of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce departments.