Democrats to Remove ‘So Help Me God’ From House Committee Oath, Draft Shows

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The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has moved to exclude the words "so help you God" from the oath given to witnesses that testify before the panel.

The move is part a new rules package to be approved this week according to the draft.

According to the draft, the House Committee on Natural Resources would require witnesses to recite only:

"Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

The new rule proposals have the words "So help you God" in red brackets, which indicated they are about to be removed.

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The other various rule changes relate to the committee's authority over natural gas in Alaska and fossil-fuel resources.

Many federal oaths include the phrase "So help me God," but some, including the presidential oath of office, does not.

The full committee will vote on the proposed new language this week and take immediate effect if adopted.

Some other committees are still in the final stages of revamping their rules.

Other committees were still in the process of finalizing their rules on Monday.

Reacting to the new rules, House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney said, "they really have become the party of Karl Marx."

“It is incredible, but not surprising, that the Democrats would try to remove God from committee proceedings in one of their first acts in the majority," House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo said.

"They really have become the party of Karl Marx.”

But the new changes since the first time Democrats tried to remove the word "God" from their official party documents.

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The floor of the Democratic National Convention erupted over a sudden move to restore to the platform a reference to "God" and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital following heavy criticism from Republicans.

Last year, the Democrats proposed to reverse a 181-year ban on religious headwear in the house.

The historical rule change was suggested by Nancy Pelosi last amid the wave of diverse lawmakers elected to Congress.

According to Fox News, a large and loud group of delegates shouted "no" as convention chairman, then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, called for the vote. Villaraigosa had to call for the vote three times before ruling that the "ayes" had it.

Many in the crowd booed after he determined the language would be restored.

The battle marked the biggest platform fight in either party's convention and signaled Democrats were worried the prior language could have been politically damaging in a tight election year.

A senior campaign official told Fox News at the time that then-President Obama personally intervened to change the language in both cases.

On the "God" reference, the official said the president's response was, "Why did it change in the first place?"

The House panel's proposed change comes as far-left progressive Democratic freshman in Congress, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota Ilhan Omar, have come under fire from Republicans for pushing what they call radical and unfounded religious-based attacks.

Omar, for example, wrote in 2012 that "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel."

Tlaib was accused of engaging in an anti-Semitic slur earlier this month by suggesting Republican politicians were truly loyal to Israel, not the United States.

Omar and Tlaib made history by becoming the first-ever Muslim women in Congress.