Omar and allies charging ahead to punish Boebert over her Islamophobic remarks  

US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s allies in the House of Representatives are charging ahead with efforts to punish Representative Lauren Boebert over her “Islamophobic and racist comments” about Muslims and Omar, arguing that the response thus far from Democratic leaders -- a promised vote on a bill to fight Islamophobia globally -- lets her off the hook too easily.

"Not enough," Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a Bronx freshman and ally of Rep, said on Sunday. "We are in the majority; we have a responsibility to act, and we're going to continue to push leadership to do just that." 

Several other progressives in the House are also calling for swift action on a resolution to strip Boebert of her committee assignments, as Democrats had done earlier in the year with Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.).

Boebert in a recent statement apologized for her “Islamophobic and racist comments” after Omar and other Democrats called for an “appropriate action” against her for "anti-Muslim bigotry.”

But after a few days, Boebert showed no sign of remorse, posting a video that described her call with Omar and doubled down on her rhetoric against Muslims.

"Make no mistake. I will continue to fearlessly put America first, never sympathizing with terrorists. Unfortunately, Ilhan can't say the same thing and our country is worse off for it," Boebert said.

Liberals in the House are yanking Boebert from her committee assignments.

“There is no question that when another member suggested that [Omar] was a suicide bomber, … that endangered her life,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has condemned Boebert’s comments in harsh terms but has declined to endorse the committee-removal proposal. Instead, Pelosi has scheduled a vote on another bill creating a special State Department office charged with identifying and confronting anti-Muslim violence around the globe. The bill is scheduled to hit the floor on Tuesday.

"It is more urgent than ever that the U.S. do all it can to combat anti-Muslim hate,” Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), another lead sponsor of the bill, said in a statement following Friday’s markup.

Omar’s allies praised the decision but also warned it will not slow their push to discipline Boebert directly.

"It's not 'or,' it's 'and,'" Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) told The Hill Friday. "We have to address the hate that's being trafficked within the halls of Congress, in addition to doing that work globally.”

“She should be stripped of her committees,” Pressley added, “and if we do not have that accountability, we only embolden this kind of hate.”

Representative André Carson (D-Ind.), another Muslim lawmaker, has been leading the negotiations with Pelosi for a resolution on the Boebert affair. He said he did not know if the vote on Omar’s anti-Muslim bill is leadership’s last word.

“We don't know yet — I can't say definitively — but I remain hopeful,” Carson said Thursday. “There could be [more to come]. That's my hope."

GOP Congresswoman Lauren Boebert doubles down on Islamophobic rhetoric

US Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has doubled down on her Islamophobic rhetoric during a phone call with Representative Ilhan Omar.

During an event in her Colorado district last month, Boebert told the audience about an encounter with Omar in the Capitol — which Omar says never happened.

“I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers,” Boebert told the laughing crowd. “You know, we’re leaving the Capitol and we’re going back to my office and we get an elevator and I see a Capitol police officer running to the elevator. I see fret all over his face, and he’s reaching, and the door’s shutting, like I can’t open it, like what’s happening. I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine.’”

Congresswoman Omar has said Republicans do not have the ability to condemn Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric because they are “normalizing anti-Muslim bigotry,” in the United States.

Omar, a Somali-born American Muslim, also blasted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Sunday for his reaction to Boebert's comments about Muslims, calling the GOP leader “a liar and a coward.”

The incident and a subsequent video of Boebert making Islamophobic comments about Omar at an event in September caused outrage at Capitol Hill, with Democrats calling for Boebert to be reprimanded, and being stripped of her committee assignments. Republicans, however, have not shown willingness to take those steps.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk