Jeffries leaves door open to booting Republicans from committees
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the Capitol on Sept. 18. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is not ruling out kicking certain House Republicans off of committees if Democrats retake the House majority.
Why it matters: It's something the Democratic leader hinted at after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) appointed Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) to the House Intelligence Committee.
- "To be continued," Jeffries replied cryptically when asked during a press conference Thursday whether he would kick Perry and Jackson off the Intelligence panel and whether Democrats may exclude other Republicans from committees.
- Johnson's appointment of Perry and Jackson to Intel prompted bipartisan backlash due to the FBI's seizure of Perry's phone and allegations of workplace misconduct against Jackson from his time as White House physician.
The intrigue: One senior House Democrat told Axios they expect Jeffries to — at a minimum — boot Jackson and Perry from the Intelligence panel.
- In June, Jeffries called the picks "frightening" and said, "If the American people give us the opportunity to govern with the gavels in November, we can assure you that a different decision would be made."
- As speaker, Jeffries would have the ability to unilaterally reject any Republican picks for the Intelligence Committee.
Zoom out: Any move to kick Republicans off committees would be a continuation of a tit for tat that has roiled the last two congressional terms.
- The Democratic-led House voted in 2021 to strip all committee assignments from Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).
- When Republicans took control in 2023, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) booted Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) from Intel, with the House also voting to kick Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) off the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Yes, but: Some Democrats, while infuriated at the bomb throwers on their committees, would prefer to pump the breaks on the back-and-forth dynamic.
- House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) lamented Greene's chaotic influence on his panel in an interview with Axios, but said he is "not interested in" kicking her off.
- "Republicans kind of set a lower precedent, lower bar this Congress," Raskin argued. "I'm hoping we can elevate the quality of our political discourse a little bit."
- Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) deferred to Jeffries on whether to oust Perry and Jackson, saying the Democratic leader has "a lot of equities that I don't see," but added of the two Republicans: "So far, they've done what I might've hoped they would do."
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes.
