In return for her vote on this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) offered Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) a spot on the House and Senate conference committee for the defense bill.
A conference committee is comprised of House and Senate members to resolve differences over major pieces of legislation, such as the NDAA. The Republican-led House passed the NDAA on Friday with a number of culture war provisions that have no chance of being included in the version the Democrat-controlled Senate passes.
Despite the provisions, Greene was still planning on voting no on the NDAA, and in a slim majority, McCarthy couldn’t afford to lose more than four Republicans. So, he promised Greene a spot on the conference committee.
Greene said McCarthy offered her this spot in exchange for her vote on the NDAA.
“I requested Marjorie to be able to serve to be able to work on, she has a number of issues that she cares about the military, and she agreed to be able to serve on that,” McCarthy said.
Greene has become a staunch ally of McCarthy since his speakership battle when she worked to whip votes in support of him from the hard-line conservative holdouts.
She also fought to whip votes for the debt ceiling bill and expressed great displeasure with members of the House Freedom Caucus, who blocked floor proceedings for over a week because they were upset with how the debt ceiling was handled.
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All of this has cost her a spot in the Freedom Caucus which voted to expel her from the group before the July 4 recess. But since then, McCarthy has gone out of his way to show support for her, from hosting a fundraiser for the Georgia Republican to continually backing her any chance he gets.
The Senate is set to vote on their version of the NDAA later this month, which will then lead to the two chambers meeting in conference to iron out their differences on the NDAA.