The White House blasts Marjorie Taylor Greene for risking Americans' 'high stakes needs' by saying she'll only vote to fund the government if Congress moves forward on impeaching Biden
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she will not fund the government without an impeachment inquiry on Biden.
- The White House released a statement criticizing her for risking a government shutdown.
- Lawmakers have until the end of September to reach an agreement on government funding.
Congress isn't back in session just yet, but fights to fund the government are already brewing.
On Thursday, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told her constituents at a town hall in Georgia that a number of conditions need to be met before she will vote to fund the government, including an impeachment inquiry on President Joe Biden, taking away funding for Ukraine, and pulling back on the fight against COVID-19. Lawmakers have until the end of September to agree on a spending bill that would keep the government funded, and if not, the government will shut down — jeopardizing federal programs millions of Americans rely on.
"I've already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden," Greene said during her town hall.
—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 31, 2023
The White House was not thrilled to hear those remarks from Greene. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates released a statement Thursday night saying that "the last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay."
"The House Republicans responsible for keeping the government open already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply – like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA," he continued.
On Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget sent out a memo to Congress — reviewed by Insider — that outlined the White House's requests for a short-term continuing resolution that would boost funding for all federal agencies. The OMB noted that if lawmakers do not boost funding, programs like Social Security and SNAP could face delays in processing, along with poor customer service. For example, the OMB noted that without the $390 million the administration is requesting for food aid, around 20,000 out of 76,000 low-income seniors receiving that assistance would be slashed from the program.
While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told MSNBC earlier this month that he and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy agree that a short-term resolution would be a viable option to avoid a government shutdown, he added that "our Republican colleagues in the House need to follow the lead of their Republican colleagues in the Senate and work in a bipartisan way."
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/aALDjQE
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