Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa has been removed from committee assignments following racist remarks, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Monday, the latest development in bipartisan condemnation of King's recent interview that appeared to lament that the term "white supremacist" is considered offensive.
McCarthy announced that the House Republican Steering Committee -- which oversees committee assignments -- met Monday night and made a decision that King "will not be serving on committees in this Congress.
"The move is just the latest reaction to King's comments, which have outraged both sides of the aisle, and spurred calls for more actions against the conservative Iowa congressman, who has a lengthy history of incendiary comments related to race and immigration. Earlier Monday, a pair of the Senate's most high-profile Republicans sharply condemned King, the highest ranking GOP officials to publicly rebuke King after comments he made to The New York Timesthat were sympathetic to white supremacists.
King criticized his party's move stripping of his committee assignments in a statement, saying, "Leader McCarthy's decision to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth."
"The truth is as follows: One of my quotes in a New York Times story has been completely mischaracterized," King said, going into lengthy detail of what he described as a 56-minute interview with the publication. He concluded with, "I will continue to point out the truth and work with all the vigor that I have to represent 4th District Iowans for at least the next two years."
While committee assignments for the new Congress have not been officially designated, King had been a member of the House Judiciary, Agriculture and Small Business committees and King was also the top Republican on a Judiciary subcommittee.
