Marjorie Taylor Greene Leans Into Space Lasers in Amendment to Foreign Aid Bill

Congressman Jared Moskowitz wants the House to declare Ms. Greene is ‘Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States.’

AP/Mark Schiefelbein
Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene speaks to reporters after a House Republican caucus meeting on Capitol Hill, October 12, 2023. AP/Mark Schiefelbein

House members will be filing amendments in the coming days to Speaker Johnson’s multi-pronged foreign aid proposal, hoping to put their own marks on the much-anticipated legislation. Some of those amendments have already been submitted, and they speak to the contempt members have for one another these days. 

On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson unveiled a nearly $100 billion aid package that includes money for Ukraine, Israel, and Free China. All three components will be amended and voted on separately, but will be sent to the Senate as one bill if they pass the lower chamber. A fourth bill that comes as part of the package includes the TikTok divestment legislation, as well as a bill that would allow Western allies to seize frozen Russian assets. 

The amendment process kicked off late Wednesday, with members submitting their proposals to the House Rules Committee. 

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a handful of amendments made for prime-time news. She wants members of Congress who vote for Ukraine aid to be conscripted into its military to fight Russia on the front lines. She also filed two amendments that would bar aid from being transmitted to Ukraine until it “stops persecuting Christians” and “holds free and fair elections.”

Ms. Greene put three amendments on the docket that would redirect all money to causes here at home. She wants to see the nearly $60 billion in military and economic assistance for Ukraine be redirected to victims of the 2023 Hawaii fires and the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, who suffered a train derailment disaster. The Georgia congresswoman included an amendment that would give the money to Attorney General Garland in order to fund a “mass deportation” operation. 

Ms. Greene also filed an amendment to build “space lasers” to defend the southern border, though she has yet to attach it to a specific component of the larger foreign aid bill. Ms. Greene made headlines early in her congressional tenure for an earlier Facebook post claiming that wildfires in California were intentionally set by lasers in space controlled by Jews.   

The Rules Committee is considering the foreign aid rule — which will set up debate proceedings and the process for amendments — on Thursday. One conservative member of the panel, Congressman Ralph Norman, submitted an amendment to his own committee that seeks to strike the first line of the Ukraine aid bill “and all that follows.”

One Democrat, Congressman Jared Moskowitz, filed an amendment directly aimed at Ms. Greene. The amendment states that she “should be appointed as Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.” He filed that shortly after Ms. Greene submitted her flurry of amendments. 

Some members filed amendments completely unrelated to the Ukraine issue. Congresswoman Nancy Mace filed one that seeks to rescind additional funding to the Internal Revenue Service that was passed as part of 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act. Congresswoman Mary Miller filed an amendment that would bar any funding from going to abortion providers. 

As part of his play to win over conservative members, Mr. Johnson included a loan provision in the Ukraine aid bill. More than $10 billion in economic assistance would be sent to the country in the form of a loan, but that loan is waivable. President Biden would be given the ability to forgive half of that debt in November and forgive the loan entirely in 2026. 

Representatives Mark Alford, Tim Burchett, Cat Cammack, and Byron Donalds all filed amendments that would change the debt provision. The amendments would either strike the loan entirely or bar the president from forgiving the loan. 

The rule provided for consideration of this aid package will need Democratic support to reach the floor. Three conservative members of the Rules Committee —Congressman Chip Roy, Mr. Norman, and Congressman Thomas Massie — are all opposed to the rule and the underlying legislation. If no Democrats on the panel join with the six Republican supporters of Ukraine aid, then the rule will fail in committee. 

Democrats on Thursday said they were open to helping Mr. Johnson pass the rule on the floor — if it can get there — to begin debate on the four bills. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday said she may support the rule to begin debate, though she has said she will not back the Israel aid component. 

The top Democrat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, said the rule “will not fail because of Democrats,” hinting her caucus would help the embattled speaker. 


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