Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is adding pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to call lawmakers back to Washington after he canceled this week’s votes amid the government shutdown.
“I think he should really bring the House back in session for many reasons,” Greene told CNN in an interview Wednesday, while criticizing Johnson for stalling legislative business.
“Any serious Speaker of the House is going to build consensus within his conference behind a plan. It’s not something secret that gets worked on in a committee,” she said, referring to Republicans’ refusal to negotiate on extending the Affordable Care Act premium health care subsidies in exchange for Democratic votes to reopen the government.
The Georgia Republican has been a lone voice of dissent within the caucus to urge her GOP colleagues to fight for an expansion of the subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Johnson proposed handling the health care measure at a later date and is standing behind his “clean” continuing resolution that would fund the government through Nov. 21. The Senate, set to vote on stopgap measures again Thursday, has already failed six times to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to reopen the government.
“This cliff is coming for millions and millions of Americans where their health insurance premiums are about to skyrocket, so put your money where your mouth is,” Greene told the outlet on Wednesday.
Her comments have been lauded by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and echoed by the majority of Americans in recent polling.
Still, President Trump has held firm to his plan to ensure Democrats are blamed for the lapse in funding and has posted videos using content created by artificial intelligence to mock them.
In late September, the president shared an AI-generated video with dubbed audio that made Schumer say, “Democrats have no voters left because of our woke, trans bulls‑‑‑,” while mariachi music played in the background. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was standing next to him wearing a photoshopped cartoon mustache and sombrero. Both lawmakers have pushed back on the depictions.
While Johnson said the clip was “not his style,” Vice President Vance said he supported the playful quip about the federal funding lapse.
“The president’s joking, and we’re having a good time,” Vance said last week. “You can negotiate in good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions.”
The vice president added at the time that if Jeffries helped reopen the government, “the sombrero memes will stop.”
Greene has shared sharp criticism for party leadership over the witty remarks.
“I’d never speak on behalf of the president, but I don’t think he’s always getting the best advice,” the lawmaker told CNN, when asked about whether Trump was straying from MAGA principles.
“I very much support the president, but I also work for my district, and I made that clear over and over again, that’s who has voted for me,” she continued, pointing to her constituents that have been “crushed” by high health insurance premiums.
Greene added later that neither party is truly benefitting from the government shutdown.
“I don’t think anybody is winning here, and I think it’s failure, and I personally don’t like it,” she said.
Others have also called on Johnson to bring lawmakers back in order to vote on a measure that would ensure military members are paid during the shutdown, which has now stretched into a second week.