More talk of defunding?
Marjorie Taylor GreenePhoto ofTwitter by RepMTG
On January 18, Georgia’s most divisive Republican politician, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, appeared on Fox with Sean Hannity and announced that she would be reinstated on the House Oversight Committees following the successful nomination of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
Positions MTG has been proposed for include positions on the House Oversight Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, which oversees matters like the border crisis — a favorite topic of Taylor-Greene and numerous other Republicans who blame the Biden administration for it current state of affairs.
In particular, regarding the border crisis, MTG commented as follows:
“[The committee]will investigate the Biden administration’s violations of our laws and will fund (and disappoint) programs to defend our border and American sovereignty.”
Freed from committee duties
The news that MTG will be reinstated in oversight positions comes just over a year after Taylor-Greene was stripped of all committee duties after all Democrats and 11 Republicans voted in favor of the action. MTG had openly advocated violence against certain members of the Senate, sparking the debate.
During the lengthy process of installing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, MTG remained one of its most vocal advocates, while other Republicans, including Florida’s Matt Gaetz, opposed the California Republican. It is rumored that MTG was such a staunch supporter of McCarthy precisely because he promised she would be reinstated to the governing bodies if he were elected.
It seems Taylor-Greene has now got what she asked for!
Is defunding the answer to everything?
It is noteworthy that since the beginning of the New Year, Taylor-Greene’s response to any issue she tackles seems to have been to disappoint individuals or organizations. So far this year she has backed a bill to withdraw funding from 87,000 new IRS officers hired to investigate tax evasion in the United States.
She also recently called for the defunding of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) after it introduced new legislation banning pistol butts – a measure MTG describes as an erosion of constitutional liberties and American gun ownership rights.
More recently, Taylor-Greene has again called for a defunding — this time of the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland who is currently investigating former President Donald Trump, who served a term in office, for his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot and alleged removal of classified documents from the White House.
The proposed response to defunding other federal agencies related to the border crisis and runaway immigration on the southern border with Mexico appears to be just the latest example where MTG has decided defunding is the answer.
Whether she actually gets the opportunity to withdraw funding from a federal agency or individual to advance her own political agenda remains to be seen. In the meantime, it is now up to house management to determine if they are OK with MTG being reinstated on the governing bodies at all.
Do you think Marjorie Taylor-Greene deserves to be reinstated on boards? Do you think defunding is an effective tactic to deal with political problems? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
