Marjorie Taylor Greene Rebukes Mike Johnson's 'Hypocrisy'

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, on Saturday for his "hypocrisy" when dealing with a looming government shutdown.

Before Johnson was elected as speaker in late October, he told his GOP colleagues that he would put a stopgap bill on the House floor if needed to avoid a government shutdown. He did just that in November with what he described as a "laddered" continuing resolution or CR.

The CR, which was ultimately passed, extends government funding for the Veterans Affairs Department, Transportation Department, Housing and Urban Development Department and Energy Department, as well as for military construction until January 19. The rest of the government has funding until February 2.

In an interview with The Hill that was published Saturday, Greene called out the "hypocrisy" of Johnson's plan, which is similar to an effort made by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, that contributed to his removal of the position in early October.

"Mike Johnson comes in and first thing he starts talking about is passing another CR, and I'm like, wait a minute, what? You just voted against it. That was the whole reason why Kevin McCarthy got ousted, was working with Democrats and passing a clean CR. And you know, for me I was like, what a hypocrisy," the congresswoman said.

At the end of September, McCarthy pushed a CR to avoid a government shutdown after Congress failed to pass funding legislation for the 2024 fiscal year. The 45-day CR that included billions in disaster aid, but no new funding for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, passed with support from House Democrats.

McCarthy's political rival Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, threatened for weeks leading up to the government shutdown that he would oust McCarthy if he brought a CR to the floor. Two days after the CR was passed, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, which resulted in a 216-210 vote to remove McCarthy as speaker.

Greene, who is a vocal opponent of sending more money to Ukraine, also complained about Johnson's stance on funding the war-torn nation.

"And then the next thing he starts immediately talking about is funding Ukraine, that shocked me," Greene told The Hill. "I was like, why would he even be talking about that? He voted against it."

Newsweek reached out to Greene and Johnson's offices via email for comment.

Johnson has indicated that he is open to Ukraine funding, if coupled with strengthened border security policy. Johnson told Republican senators at a lunch meeting last month that "we want to take up Ukraine," Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, told The Associated Press.

Hawley said Johnson told the senators the "next order of business" after getting an aid package passed for Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas, which later got blocked by the Senate, would be a Ukraine-U.S. border package.

President Joe Biden requested a $106 billion aid package in October, which included aid for Israel, Ukraine, border security and more. However, Republicans in Congress have said they want strengthened immigration policy to combat the surge of migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border in conjunction with money for border security.

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