In Rare Move, Congressman Punished Over Race Remarks

Steve King loses his committee assignments after defending white supremacy
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2019 4:09 AM CST
Updated Jan 15, 2019 5:36 AM CST
GOP Leaders Kick Steve King Off Committees
In this June 8, 2018 photo, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, is seen at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Rep. Steve King, the lawmaker that Stephen King hates being confused with, has finally gone too far for his fellow House Republicans. The Iowan is being stripped of all his committee assignments after his controversial remarks about white supremacism, the Hill reports. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday that King, who had served on the Judiciary, Agriculture, and Small Business committees when the GOP was the majority party, will not be seated "on any committees in the 116th Congress." McCarthy said he wouldn't rule out a reprimand resolution against King, though he added that it is up to Iowans whether he remains in office, the New York Times reports.

"This is not the first time we’ve heard these comments," McCarthy said of King's remarks. "That is not the party of Lincoln and it’s definitely not American." McCarthy met with King for an hour before House GOP leaders decided to kick him off the committees. "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization—how did that language become offensive?" King wondered in a New York Times interview last week, in which he described the Democratic Party as "no country for white men." After losing his committee seats, King claimed his remarks had been misunderstood and said McCarthy had made a "political decision that ignores the truth." (King was defended by David Duke after a controversial tweet in 2017.)

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