Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she has “had enough” of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his leadership team during the weekend’s spending chaos, but warned Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz about his attempt to oust the chairman.
Over the weekend, McCarthy drew the ire of House conservatives when he placed a “clean” continuing resolution, or bill to expand government funding, on the floor of the House of Representatives.
That was after chaotic back-and-forth showed that they would never be able to pass a party-backed resolution cutting spending with only Republicans’ votes.
“It’s a system of failure and I’m fed up with it,” she told DailyMail.com in an interview, arguing that the House should have worked out a spending plan long before the eleventh hour of the closing deadline – September 30.
She also fired a warning shot at McCarthy that his support in the House Republican Conference would “withdraw” if he allowed Ukraine aid to be voted on.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she’s “had enough” of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his leadership team during the weekend’s spending chaos — but warned Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz about his attempt to oust the chairman
“It would hurt his support at the conference, and I think it would hurt his support across the country,” she said. “So I don’t think he wants to cross that line.”
On Monday morning, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz fired another warning shot at McCarthy’s speakers when he accused the Republican leader of making a “secret side deal” with President Biden to get more money to Ukraine.
Although she blamed McCarthy for cutting Ukrainian aid from the defense spending bill, she ripped the Republican Party leadership in the House of Representatives for acting at the eleventh hour and subsequently passing a continuing resolution (CR) .
“Every year we have deliberate, systemic failures because of a calendar that sets Congress up for failure regardless of which party is in charge. And, and you know what? That is also the fault of our current leadership.’
“Congress will go home for the entire month of August and mid-September. And that makes me so angry because I would never run my business that way. I own a construction company. We work on deadline. It is ridiculous. So I’m angry about things.’
Greene went to work for McCarthy during the frenzied speaker’s race and developed a close relationship with the House speaker. But these days she seems more open to criticizing the California Republican.
“I supported McCarthy for speaker and I will be the first to hold him accountable if he doesn’t do his job.”
Still, she warned Republican Matt Gaetz against filing a motion to evict, saying it would “plunge our entire Congress into chaos.”
Over the weekend, McCarthy drew the ire of conservatives in the House of Representatives when he put a “clean” continuing resolution, or bill to expand government funding, on the floor of the House of Representatives.
She warned Gaetz, “Stop trying to make the internet pitchfork and tiki torch mob happy because you can never make them happy.”
‘I’m telling you. I hate drama,” Greene continued. ‘I don’t want to get involved in the drama. I just want everyone to get to work.”
But she also vowed to defend Gaetz against anyone who tried to threaten his job.
“There’s no way I’m going to let that happen,” she said.
The congressman said 45 days “will likely not be enough to complete all 12 appropriations bills and work with the Senate to pass them.”
“It’s always, ‘Oh no. The government is going to turn off panic mode, pass the car, and then you get the Christmas omnibus that I call a lump of coal for the American people. So it’s a system of failure and I’m tired of it, I’m not going to be part of it.’
If Congress does not pass twelve single-issue spending bills to fund each government agency, they usually resort to an umbrella omnibus bill that increases or decreases the funding of each government agency in a single vote.
Greene brushed aside any suggestion that her relationship with McCarthy had soured amid the spending debate.
“The proof that Kevin McCarthy is listening to me is the fact that the $300 billion for Ukraine was removed from the defense bill,” she said. ‘That’s a good thing. That’s not a bad thing. So people need to give Kevin McCarthy credit instead of demanding his head on a silver platter.”
Greene warned McCarthy against violating the Hastert Rule — an arcane and unwritten rule that the speaker does not bring up a bill unless it has the support of a majority of the majority.
Last week, a vote on $300 million in funding for training Ukrainian soldiers passed the House of Representatives, but failed to gain support from a majority of Republicans: 100 voted in favor, 117 voted against.
That money was originally included in the defense appropriations bill, drawing the ire of Republicans like Greene. McCarthy went back and forth on removing it from the bill and voting on it separately, but ultimately did just that.