House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is considering the removal of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks from Congress amid questions over her close election win because she wants to consolidate her own power further by replacing the Iowa Republican with her Democrat challenger, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday.
“When you listened to Pelosi’s talk, she believed it was her right to determine who is a member of Congress and who is not,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” pointing out that Miller-Meeks won on Election Day and in a recount, and that a bipartisan state canvassing committee voted unanimously for her.
“She has the certificate,” said McCarthy. “She is seated; she is the congresswoman.”
But Pelosi is “scared of losing power,” said McCarthy. “It is (about) consolidating greater power for Pelosi.”
He also said that Miller-Meeks, who was with McCarthy on the program, has already been working as a congresswoman, including traveling with him to the nation’s southern border two weeks ago. As she is a doctor, she brought up a motion on the House floor to ensure all the migrant children coming in would get a COVID test, but the Democrats denied her.
Miller-Meeks, meanwhile, said that the people of Iowa, not Pelosi, should be deciding who elects their representation.
“I won on election night at the 24-county canvas and in the recount,” she said, adding that her opponent, Democrat state Sen. Rita Hart, “had the opportunity to go to the courts, decided to bypass the courts because in her own words she said we had to go to Congress to get the result we need.”
She added that Hart’s attorney, in filing his briefs with the House Committee on Administration, “has said the same thing, that the committee should use its full discretion to depart from Iowa law. Everybody should be outraged about this. It is departing from state election law. I’ve been sworn in and I’m functioning as a representative for the second district of Iowa.”
She added that the argument could go on for several months, but in the meantime, she’ll continue with her job as a lawmaker.
Meanwhile, McCarthy also argued that in a separate contested election, the Democrat who won should be able to keep her House seat as well.
In Illinois, former state GOP Sen. Jim Oberweis has filed a notice of contest with the U.S. House seeking a new election against Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood’s reelection, claiming that there were irregularities found in a discovery recount of the Nov. 3 results that make him the winner, reports The Chicago Tribune.
However, Underwood was certified the winner of the race in the 14th Congressional District over Oberweis, a Republican from Sugar Grove, by 5,374 votes out of 401,052 ballots cast.
“Oberweis would need to go to the courts,” just like Hart, said McCarthy. “This is the people’s House, not Pelosi’s House…we believe Underwood is the congresswoman and believe Miller-Meeks is the congresswoman. They have the certificates and the decision going forward.”
Source: Newmax
