Local

Local congresswomen respond to House action on Greene

It hasn’t even been a month since Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal was cowering for safety on the floor of the House Gallery.

“Many of us thought we were, they had these moments, these flashes, where we thought we were going to die,” Rep. Jayapal said in an interview.

Violent insurrectionists were smashing their way into the Capitol to overturn the results of the presidential election, many of them powered by the QAnon conspiracy.

Before her election, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green had questioned whether mass school shootings including Parkland and Sandy Hook were staged, claimed there’s no evidence a plane hit the Pentagon on 9-11, and reportedly liked social media posts calling for violence against some Democrats — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Before Democrats voted on stripping her of committee assignments, Greene explained herself.

“I want you to know a lot of Americans don’t trust our government. And that’s sad. The problem with that is though, is I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true,” Greene said.

Democratic Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland represents the South Sound.

“It’s too little too late, you know, she’s making these statements right now because there will be action to strip her over committee assignments and to be frank with you, she should actually be kicked out of Congress.”

Jayapal would have had to serve alongside Green on the Education Committee.

“I didn’t hear a real apology for the pain that she has caused. I didn’t see truth in many of her statements.”

Still, the vast majority of Republicans in the House supported Greene. They blasted Democrats for taking her committee assignments away.

“It is really important that the country sees this, not as a partisan vote, but as something that is about the principles of who serves in Congress and what we will tolerate and what we will not tolerate,” said Jayapal.

Strickland added, “We need to deal with people and not let them off the hook, because the American people deserve it.”

None of Washington’s three Republican representatives voted to remove Greene from committees. Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Jaime Herrera Beutler issued statements condemning Greene’s actions, but said Democrats should not decide whether Republicans serve on committees.