House Democrat Renews Push To Expel Marjorie Taylor Greene After America First Caucus Uproar

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Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) on Tuesday told Forbes he plans to make a new push to get lawmakers behind his long-shot resolution to expel Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from Congress by drawing on outrage over her ill-fated attempt to establish a congressional group dubbed the America First Caucus.

Gomez, asked about the status of his resolution, which he introduced in March but has not yet brought for a vote on the floor, said he is “still waiting for more support” and will bring it forward “when the time is right.”

Gomez said he has only gained three cosponsors for the resolution in the weeks since it was introduced – bringing it to 75, or roughly a third of the Democratic caucus – but revealed plans to send it out again in a new push for support.

Gomez said Greene’s recent attempt to launch a new right-wing caucus, whose reported platform promoted “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and the “progeny of European architecture,” has “offended quite a number” of lawmakers and may “propel” the expulsion effort.

“We’re gonna try to use that as a way to get more people,” Gomez said, while underscoring that the main focus of the resolution is Greene’s alleged role in helping “instigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.”

Nick Dyer, a spokesperson for Greene, declined to immediately comment, pointing to Newsmax appearance in March in which Greene said she “did nothing wrong” and stated “my district would just reelect me and send me back, so their efforts will fail.”

“Every day that Rep. Greene is in office represents a threat to the very people who have been charged with keeping our democracy running,” Eric Harris, a spokesperson for Gomez, told Forbes, underscoring that Greene’s past social media posts advocating political violence are the “catalyst” for the resolution.

Greene has tabled her plans for the caucus and claimed she had no hand in writing the platform, but it drew widespread condemnation from even Republican leadership and appears to have alienated her further from the right-wing Freedom Caucus.

70. That’s how many Republicans would have to cross the aisle and vote for the resolution in order for Greene to be expelled assuming all Democrats vote for it, far more than the 11 House Republicans who voted with Democrats to strip Greene of her committee assignments in February, making the odds of her expulsion astronomical. Harris told Forbes in March that they had “quite a few” conversations with Republicans, but none have cosponsored the bill so far.

A greater obstacle to Gomez’s resolution may be Democratic leadership. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in March that removing Greene is Gomez’s “own view” and not that of Democratic leadership. Gomez told Forbes Tuesday he will try to “push” and “work with” leadership, but added that he will move ahead on his own with or without their support.

The resolution is currently under consideration by the House Ethics Committee, which would be unlikely to advance it in part due to its even number of Democrats and Republicans. However, Gomez’s office says he can raise the resolution as a question of privilege, due to it being about the conduct of a member, in order to force a vote on the House floor.

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