Conservatives push to reinstate Steve King on committees despite racist remarks

[Formerly Once-Ler]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/03/steve-king-1352064

A small group of House Republicans is leading a long-shot bid to get embattled Rep. Steve King back on his committee assignments after the Iowa Republican was booted for making racist remarks earlier this year.

The cadre of hard-line conservatives, led by Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and others, plans to ask the GOP conference on Tuesday morning to immediately consider a resolution reinstating King. But that effort is likely to fail, because it would require support from a majority of a quorum to proceed and the votes just aren't there.

The same group has been struggling to round up enough signatures for a draft petition that would force the Republican Steering Committee to vote on reassigning King to his old committees. The letter needed the backing of 25 lawmakers to raise the issue with the Steering Committee and 50 members to force a closed-ballot vote in the wider GOP conference.

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[Formerly Once-Ler]

Republican leaders have made clear that they have no plans to reverse course after stripping King of his committee assignments for defending white supremacy and white nationalism in an interview with The New York Times in January. The House also overwhelmingly voted to condemn King, who maintains that his comments were misinterpreted.