Hakeem Jeffries rips Kevin McCarthy's apparent double standard' with committee assignments

23 January 2023

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been drawing vehement criticism for allowing some of the most extreme members of his caucus, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, to have prime committee assignments. And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is calling McCarthy out for having an “apparent double standard.”

Punchbowl News has obtained a copy of a letter Jeffries sent McCarthy on January 21. Jeffries finds it ridiculous that McCarthy is trying to oust Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee while giving Rep. George Santos committee assignments.

“The apparent double standard risks undermining the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that is so desperately needed in Congress,” Jeffries told McCarthy. “I urge you to honor past practice of the House of Representatives and our mutual interest in working together for the good of the American people by accepting my recommendation of Adam Schiff to serve as ranking member and Eric Swalwell to continue his service as a member of the Intelligence Committee.”

Axios’ Jacob Knutsen notes that McCarthy “has maintained that Swalwell's brief association with a Chinese spy made him ineligible for a seat on the committee” and “considers Schiff, one of the longest-serving members on the Intelligence Committee, disqualified from serving as ranking member for promoting the Steele dossier.”

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