Rep. Steve King Loses House Committee Assignments Over 'White Supremacy' Comments

Rep. Steve King of Iowa

Rep. Steve King of Iowa (R) has lost his House committee assignments as a result of his recent comments about

From The New York Times:

House Republican leaders removed Representative Steve King of Iowa from the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees on Monday night as party officials scrambled to appear tough on racism and contain damage from comments Mr. King made to The New York Times questioning why white supremacy is considered offensive.

The punishment came on a day when Mr. King was denounced by an array of Republican leaders, though not President Trump. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested Mr. King find “another line of work” and Senator Mitt Romney said he should quit. And the House Republicans, in an attempt to be proactive, stripped him of the committee seats in the face of multiple Democratic resolutions to censure Mr. King that are being introduced this week.

Those measures would force Republicans to take a stand on the House Democratic majority’s attempt to publicly reprimand one of their own.

Mr. King, who has been an ally of President Trump on the border wall and other issues, has a long history of making racist remarks and insults about immigrants, but has not drawn rebukes from Republican leaders until recently.

Tonight, Rep. Steve King was stripped of all his committee assignments for his embrace of white supremacy.

He will not serve on a single committee for the next 2 years of the 116th Congress.

Committee assignments are powerful. Members spend years working for their desired spot. https://t.co/WLkH2os8Pw

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 15, 2019

This AM, Kevin McCarthy stopped short of calling on Steve King to resign, as did Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley. "That's up to Steve King," McCarthy said.

Liz Cheney, however, said she agrees with McConnell: "I think he should find another line of work."

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 15, 2019

Steve King's larger argument is basically I've said similar things before and nobody did anything....which....isn't...totally....wrong https://t.co/qigCaks8ky

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) January 15, 2019