Marjorie Taylor Greene slams GOP leadership shutdown strategy

In a tweet and an interview released today by Semafor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took aim at her party’s shutdown strategy and its failure to address the cost-of-living crisis. Greene said in her tweet that she has “no respect for the decision to refuse to work”, referring to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s decision to keep the House of Representatives out of session. Johnson adjourned the House to force Senate Democrats to agree to pass a government funding bill without addressing lapsing healthcare subsidies. Keeping the House out of session means he also avoids swearing in Democratic Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva (AZ), who would be the last vote needed to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

She also said that if her party continues to neglect 2024 campaign promises to tackle inflation, they may lose control of Congress in the midterms. “I can’t see into the future,” Greene told Semafor, “but I see Republicans losing the House if Americans are continuing to go paycheck-to-paycheck”. She added that the voters will “definitely be going into the midterms looking through the lens of their bank account”.

Meanwhile, the ongoing shutdown has become the longest full government shutdown in our nation’s history, and it’s not clear whether there is an end in sight. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC he thought the shutdown would likely end this week. Citing “friends in the Senate, Hassett said he believed moderate Senate Democrats would cave with this past weekend’s massive nationwide “No Kings” protest now behind them.

Other reports point in the opposite direction, namely that the turnout and energy of the protests now has moderate Democrats fearing a backlash from their base if they vote to pass the Republican CR without getting concessions on healthcare.

Noem under fire for $170 million purchase of Gulfstream jets for DHS officials during shutdown.

More flight delays at major airports amid shutdown-related air traffic control shortages.