Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) rejected the idea that she should be blamed for possibly bringing about the promotion of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to speaker after she moved to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
In response to a question noting the House GOP’s slim and diminishing majority and that her proposal to remove Mr. Johnson from office may result in Mr. Jeffries becoming the next speaker, Ms. Greene pushed back. She said Republican lawmakers who have resigned or shortened their tenure are the real culprits, not her.
“It’s just simple math. The more Republicans, like Mike Gallagher, that resign and leave early—guess what, that means we have less Republicans in the House,” Ms. Greene said in an interview on March 26 on conservative network Real America’s Voice.
“So, every time a Mike Gallagher or a Ken Buck leaves early, that brings our numbers down and brings us dangerously closer to being in the minority.
“It’s not Marjorie Taylor Greene that is saying the inconvenient truth and forcing everyone to wake up and realize Republican voters are done with us doing this kind of crap that we did last week,” she added, referencing the budget that was passed by Congress.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) concluded his term in Congress last week, and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) will retire in one month. Ms. Greene previously urged Mr. Johnson earlier this week to advocate for Mr. Gallagher’s expulsion from the House so that his district could have sufficient time to elect a new representative.
House Democrats will have 213 members compared with 217 for the Republicans following Mr. Gallagher’s departure, meaning that the GOP can only afford to lose one vote on any bill that lacks Democratic support.
“I am not going to be responsible for Hakeem Jeffries being Speaker of the House,” Greene said."I am not going to be responsible for a Democratic majority taking over our Republican majority.
“That lies squarely on the shoulders of these Republicans that are leaving early because they don’t have the intestinal fortitude to handle the real fight and the responsibility that comes with leadership and the end of our republic when our country is nearly destroyed and when our Constitution is being run through a paper shredder.”
In an effort to prevent a government shutdown, Congress passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill, and Ms. Greene legally moved to remove Mr. Johnson from office in protest. The House of Representatives decided to continue funding 70 percent of the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Early on March 21, only one day before the deadline to prevent a partial government shutdown, the six appropriations measures that make up the funding package were introduced. The measure passed with a vote of 286 to 134 despite strong opposition from a number of Republicans in the conference.
“This is a betrayal of the American people. This is a betrayal of the Republican voters,” the congresswoman told reporters outside the Capitol following the vote.
Although she acknowledged that there were others who shared her view that a change in leadership was necessary, Ms. Greene emphasized that her intention in submitting the motion was not to “throw the House into chaos.”
“Committees will continue doing their work; investigations will continue,“ Ms. Greene said. ”I support Republicans holding the majority next conference, but we need a speaker of the House that knows how to negotiate, knows how to walk in the room, knows how to hold the line, and knows how to defend America first and the values and the policies that President Trump will bring.”
