WASHINGTON — House Republicans have reinstated far-right Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona on committees again after Democrats stripped them of that privilege in 2021, multiple GOP sources said.
The GOP Steering Committee, which doles out committee gavels and seats, voted to give Greene and Gosar spots on the Oversight and Accountability Committee, which plans to launch numerous investigations into President Joe Biden and his administration.
Gosar also secured an assignment on the Natural Resources Committee. Democrats had booted him off both panels in the last Congress.
Greene also won a seat on the Homeland Security Committee, which Republicans will use to focus on border security and to investigate Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Last week, a House Republican from Texas filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.
A spokesperson for Greene confirmed her appointments. She had taken fire in recent months from the right for defending Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., during his tumultuous, successful quest to become House speaker, but her gamble appears to have paid off.
Greene and Gosar are allies of former President Donald Trump and members of the House Freedom Caucus.
In February 2021, the House, then controlled by Democrats, voted to remove Greene from the Budget Committee and the Education and Labor Committee after her social media posts revealed she was spreading dangerous and racist conspiracy theories.
The Democratic majority chose to pursue a proposal to remove Greene from her committees after House Republican leaders opted not to act against her. Greene, a freshman lawmaker at the time, had come under fire for having expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, embracing calls for violence against top Democrats and suggesting that the Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, school shootings were staged.
Later that year, in November, the House voted to remove Gosar from his two committees — Oversight and Reform and Natural Resources — after he posted an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking Biden. As part of the measure, Gosar was censured, which is considered the harshest punishment against a member in the House, after expulsion.
As minority leader, McCarthy had delivered a veiled threat before the vote to remove Gosar, warning Democrats that if Republicans won control of the House in the 2022 election, Democrats’ seats on committees might not be safe.
