McCarthy said he had votes to remove Omar from committee, and he did

It's good that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is scrappy, because he's going to have to fight for every single bill he wants to pass with only a 3 to 5 vote majority.

He said on Tuesday that he had the votes to get Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) off the Foreign Affairs Committee, and he proved on Thursday that he did when the House voted 218-211 along party lines to strip her of the assignment.

One Republican, Dave Joyce of Ohio, voted present because he felt his position on the ethics committee caused a possible conflict of interest.

A few Republicans initially balked at McCarthy's move but fell in line when an appeals process was added. They weren't sure it created a good precedent, but McCarthy said that the action wasn't as bad as Democrats after Jan. 6 who stripped a few Republicans of all of their committee assignments.

At least Omar, who has made clearly anti-Semitic remarks, will not be able to officially act against Israel now that she is off the committee that would do so.

Her minority position would likely not have gained much traction with the committee, but the influence it could have was still an issue.