WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2023) The Democratic Caucus in the US House of Representatives continues to support Congresswoman Ilhan Omar after new Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, new Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Thursday.
"Representative Omar certainly has made mistakes," Jeffries told a Capitol Hill press conference. "(However) Ihlan Omar has apologized. She has indicated that she will learn from her mistakes."
Two years ago, Omar posted a message via Twitter characterizing relations between Israel and the United States as being "All about the Benjamins" - in reference to $100 notes.
The "Benjamins" comment ignited a storm of protest among other controversial statements by the congresswoman from Minnesota such as the description of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States as "some people did something."
However, Jeffries said Omar was now working to build bridges to the American Jewish community.
The House voted by 218 to 211 to remove Omar from her prestigious position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The vote was along strictly partisan Republican versus Democrat lines.
In an speech on the floor of the House, Omar claimed she was being singled out for punishment because she was a Muslim from Africa. The members of her family, including herself, were refugees from Somalia when they arrived in the United States.
