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They are worried about losing their committee seats if they don't do the speakers bidding or if democrats take the house. They know once they go down this road the house minority party will have no say like in the UK.
“I promised that when I became Speaker, I would remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee based on her repeated anti-semitic and anti-American remarks. I'm keeping that promise.” - McCarthy 

Sooo, Jewish space lasers huh? Oh wait, revenge you say? Just a little bit of grade school bullshit you say…

The heated partisan conflict over committee assignments began in 2021, when Democrats and a small number of Republicans voted to remove Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from their panels. Republicans said at the time that the move set a new precedent and vowed to take revenge. McCarthy this week formally removed Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee.

Just another day of Republicans sabotaging the US government. >

I think more then revenge Reps just want to take everything Dems did to them in the Trump years that was seen as once-in-a-lifetime or just a major step in general, and do it to them for stupid reasons in a bid to take all the gravity out of them in the future. That’s why I think so many people have mentioned impeaching Biden, some before he was even sworn in. >

Some of that yeah but also I think it gives them cover. Republicans think it gives them a valid excuse to do things because “Democrats did it first”. As you say, the gravity of the action is less. They are just defending themselves, yada yada. 
But it is revenge. Republicans have spent a lot of time and money telling a story how Democrats are The Enemy. In their minds you can’t let an assumed attack just go without a counter attack. Because The Enemy and all that jazz. I mean, what would Fox News Propaganda say, which is really 90% the reason Republicans keep getting voted in. Republicans are in burn it all down mode and are at the extreme end of desperation. Republican voters are fueled by ongoing outrage entertainment. If government is working, if people’s lives are getting better, that’s a problem for Republican politicians. Doubly so if Democrats get actual credit for it. >

What, they're worried about optics NOW?