Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is openly criticizing Republican leaders in Congress over their handling of the government shutdown and health care funding.
Greene’s social media posts and public statements are part of a trend in recent months of her taking positions that are populist but which conflict with public statements from President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune. She has backed releasing the Epstein files, criticized Israel’s war with Gaza and now is championing an extension of Affordable Care Act health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year.
“I’m saying that this is such a severe problem that it’s crippling Americans’ abilities to make ends meet, and it’s a failure by Republicans to not recognize it and to not be working on a solution,” Greene told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Greene, R-Rome, said those talks should be happening now. Instead, she said, Republicans have allowed Democrats to get the upper hand by refusing to address the issue while Senate Democrats have repeatedly offered up a government-funding bill that would renew the subsidies.
The other eight Republicans in Georgia’s delegation are standing behind Johnson and Thune as they insist that no negotiating on the subsidies will begin until after the shutdown ends. There is no end to the shutdown in sight as Trump threatens mass layoffs and allowing programs to fizzle out.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, in a joint press event with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise on Tuesday, said it was up to Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the House-passed government funding legislation.
That GOP bill would reopen the government through mid-November without any substantial policy changes. Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock voted against it multiple times, supporting instead an alternative Democrat plan that would fund the government, extend the subsidies and roll back provisions in the “big, beautiful bill.”
That is an unacceptable position and threatens disaster relief, aid for farmers and service members’ paychecks, Scott said.
“Georgia’s two senators need to cut the nonsense out and vote with their constituents instead of a senator from New York,” he said, referencing Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Rep. Buddy Carter, who is chair of a health care subcommittee, said he is open to discussing an extension of the subsidies but agrees that those talks cannot begin until Democrats vote to reopen the government.
In the meantime, he also agrees with Johnson’s decision to cancel votes on the U.S. House floor for the past two weeks. The Senate during the shutdown has remained in session, taking multiple votes on both government funding proposals and handling other business, like confirming Trump nominees.
Members of Congress also continue to collect their $174,000 paychecks during the shutdown, although some like Carter and Ossoff have said they will not accept payment and will donate any back pay.
Most government workers, including congressional staffers, are either on unpaid leave or working without pay if designated an “essential workers.”
Carter said it makes no sense for members of House to be in session.
“I do not think that we should be up there during the shutdown,” he said. “The Senate should be up there. They should pass what we passed in the House.”
Because of the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule and Republican’s thin majority, spending legislation requires bipartisan support. The House-passed government funding bill has failed in the Senate multiple times because not enough Democrats have joined with Republicans to pass it.
Meanwhile, the Democrats’ legislation also failed multiple times without any GOP support.
Greene has her own thoughts. She believes Thune should use the “nuclear option” and override the veto rules to pass the funding bill with just a majority vote. Senators from both sides of the aisle have been hesitant to further erode use of the filibuster because they worry about weakening their party’s influence if they are in the minority.
Greene, who is working from her office in Washington this week, also says Johnson made a strategic mistake by canceling votes and keeping members at home. She has been critical of his leadership often during his tenure and said his handling of the shutdown is another source of frustration.
“I don’t see any reason for the House to be out of session,” he said. “I don’t think that it’s believable to tell the American people that while we control the White House, the House and the Senate that we can’t return to work in Washington, D.C., because Chuck Schumer and six other Democrats won’t vote to open the government.”
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