US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks to the media near the entrance to the Fulton County Jail, as former US President Donald Trump is expected to surrender to be processed after his indictment in Georgia , in Atlanta, August 24, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Reuters
WASHINGTON — The White House dismissed Republican talk of impeachment as “a partisan stunt” after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who did not vote for funding the government without a trial.
“I have already decided that I will not vote to fund the government unless we pass an impeachment inquiry,” Greene said.
In a town hall Thursday night in his constituents and later in a post on Xformerly known as Twitter, Greene said he would not vote on necessary budget bills unless impeachment proceedings began for President Joe Biden.
Failure to fund the government would lead to a shutdown when the fiscal year ends on September 30, which could result in furloughed workers, closed agencies and put many important programs at risk.
The House passed only one of the 12 budget bills needed to fund the government with a deadline to do so less than a month away.
The White House on Thursday asked Congress to pass a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government while long-term budget negotiations continue. Even before Greene’s comments, deep divisions remain between the parties with Republicans looking to implement major spending cuts that are unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Greene also said he would not vote on the budget proposals if the House did not “defund the arming of the Biden government,” end the Covid-19 orders and stop funding to Ukraine.
White House spokesman Ian Sams pushed Greene hard in a statement, saying millions of dollars had been wasted on the “wild goose chase” that was the investigation into Biden and his family.
“One of the most powerful members of the House, Marjorie Taylor Greene, just admitted that the House Republican impeachment was just a partisan stunt driven by the most extreme, far-right members,” Sams said.
Republicans have yet to present any evidence of wrongdoing by Biden when he was vice president and his son Hunter was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, or that Biden benefited from all of his son’s roles .
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has begun warning his members that not funding the government could have adverse effects on their impeachment probe, which in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he called the “natural next step.”
“If we shut down, all of government shuts down — investigations and everything else,” McCarthy told Fox News on Sunday.
In an interview with Breitbart News on Friday, McCarthy said if the House were to open an impeachment inquiry into Biden, there would be a formal vote to do so.
“If we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it will happen by a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not by a declaration by someone,” McCarthy said.