It sounds like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is trying to appeal to the base with his first moves.

As we reported earlier, McCarthy said that if he became the Speaker he would remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But according to McCarthy, that isn’t the only person he has on his mind to boot from their committees. McCarthy told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” that he was also looking at both Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — the current head of the House Intel Committee — and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who is also on the Intel Committee. He has repeatedly said in the past that he would do take these actions — now he’s saying he intends to follow through on it.

Kevin McCarthy says he will keep his promise to remove Ilhan Omar, Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell from House committees pic.twitter.com/Kp8EPP9tCU

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 20, 2022

McCarthy said Swalwell’s association with a Chinese spy, Schiff’s promotion of the Steele dossier and Omar’s criticism of Israel disqualify them from serving on their respective panels.

“One thing I said from the very beginning, Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector,” he said. “Why would we ever give him a security clearance and the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel.”

“You have Adam Schiff, who lied to the American public time and again – we will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either,” he continued. “Look at Congresswoman Omar, her antisemitic comments that have gone forward. We’re not going to allow her to be on Foreign Affairs.”

It’s not clear yet exactly how big the Republican majority will be but it might be anywhere between 220 and 224 seats, and McCarthy will need 218 votes to become Speaker. He may have some trouble as at least three Republicans have already said they aren’t going to vote for him including Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT).

Democrats like Schiff and fellow travelers like Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) (“He Who Shall Soon Be Gone Into Oblivion or MSNBC”) are whining that McCarthy might actually have to appeal to the conservative wing of the party. Gee, you think? What an odd thought that Republicans might want to appeal to the base of the party. Of course, Schiff is also mad because he doesn’t want to get dumped.

But dumping Swalwell and Schiff is definitely a step in the right direction and would be an important move toward bringing some sanity and seriousness back to Congressional committees again. It’s crazy that after all Schiff’s lies, he’s still the Chair of the Intel Committee — and Swalwell should have been bounced a long time ago. The Intel Committee is supposed to be the cream of the crop, not the cream of the crap. But for too long, because the Democrats have concentrated on their political agendas rather than the defense of the United States, it’s been far too much the latter. It’s time we draw it back to what that Committee is supposed to be about — protecting the United States.