House Republicans removed Congress’ only African-born lawmaker from the Foreign Affairs Committee early this year, but the effort to punish Rep. Ilhan Omar appears to have instead made her an even more prominent voice on the issues she cares about.
Republicans said they removed Omar, D-Minn., for her years-old comments that referenced antisemitic tropes, taking away a platform she sometimes used to criticize U.S. foreign policy, particularly on human rights. But in the four months since her ouster, Omar has gained more clout with foreign embassies, visiting parliamentarians, the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers than she had managed in four years on the committee.
“It’s been actually fascinating,” Omar said in an interview last week in her office. “Since I was removed from committee, I think I’ve had more visits from parliamentarians around the world and visits with ambassadors in the last three months than I would in a year or two while I was on the committee.”
