Can Congress remove Stephen Bannon from the National Security Council?
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Democrat from Florida, is hoping it can — she introduced a bill Wednesday that would encourage non-partisanship on the council and bar persons whose “primary or predominant responsibility is political in nature” from being given a seat.
The bill would also extend a standing invitation to crucial Principal Committee meetings to the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence.
Bannon, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist and one of his closest advisers, was appointed Saturday to be a regular part of the council and its Strategist Initiatives Group, and invited to all meetings.
Murphy, in her announcement of the bill on the House floor, called for a council free of partisan politics in the face of national security issues. “Our men and women in uniform, our intelligence and homeland security professionals, and our citizens should feel secure in their knowledge that the critical decisions made by the NSC are free from political considerations,” Murphy said. “The American people deserve a national security policymaking process that inspire confidence, not cynicism.”
Murphy became the first Vietnamese American woman elected to Congress last year.
The bill has 50 co-sponsors.
