Marjorie Taylor Greene Tries to Calm Republicans Down

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, attempted to convince her fellow Republicans on Monday that there are other ways to cut spending than in a debt limit bill.

Details from the tentative debt limit deal were released on Sunday night, with Republicans unhappy about the concessions House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made on the party’s behalf in order to pass a deal that would prevent the country from defaulting on its debt.

McCarthy and President Joe Biden have been locked in a stalemate in negotiations to prevent a default on the nation’s debt, with Biden arguing for the preservation of funding that supports programs he deems vital and a budget that would allow him to accomplish his administration’s goals for the last leg of his term, but McCarthy continued advocating for steep spending cuts.

The deal, presented as a compromise that neither side received everything they wished for, will extend the debt limit until January 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, repeal unused COVID-19 relief funds, cut Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding and add work requirements for food aid programs, CNN reported.

However after details from the tentative deal were announced, many Republicans felt the spending cuts were not steep enough, such as Representative Bob Good of Virginia, Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Senator Mike Lee of Utah and countless other right-wing political figures like 2024 presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Greene, who broke from her party when she spoke in favor of the tentative deal, is now trying to assuage her fellow Republicans in Congress by convincing them there are other avenues they can use to cut spending.

“Upcoming Appropriation bills is where we can make real changes in what Congress funds and does not fund,” Greene tweeted late Monday morning, accompanied by a retweet of Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, that outlined five ways Congress can cut spending.

Newsweek reached out to Greene’s press office by email for comment.

In Massie’s Twitter thread, only one of the five avenues involved the debt limit. The GOP lawmaker explained that appropriations are where Congress members have the most power to restrict federal spending.

“This is where most of the action is. Don’t like something? Don’t fund it!” Massie tweeted. “Congress is supposed to pass 12 separate approps bills, but most often devolves into passing an omnibus or CR. These bills are due Oct 1, and if not passed, the government shuts down.”

However, with the Republicans’ slim majority in the House of Representatives, the GOP may face challenges in uniting its members for the same purpose—a hurdle that has already been prevalent since the Republicans secured the majority and took office in January. Twitter responses to Greene’s Monday morning tweet were quick to point this out.

“You couldn’t win on debt ceiling caps but you think you will win on appropriations bills?” Twitter user @PaulNicolari asked.

“Only matters if there is a backbone involved to not cave to the narrative,” user @markswisher tweeted.