Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from the House Freedom Caucus after repeatedly siding with Speaker Kevin McCarthy on a series of key votes.
Greene, who joined HFC after entering Congress in 2021, has emerged as a key McCarthy surrogate in the 118th Congress. She supported him throughout the marathon 15-vote series that made him speaker in January, and voted in favor of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bipartisan compromise to raise the debt ceiling. Greene has also repeatedly feuded with HFC member and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, going so far as to call her “a little bitch” on the House floor.
Maryland Rep. Andy Harris confirmed the removal to Politico, telling the outlet that the Boebert feud was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“I think the way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other fellow, especially female, members,” he said
Freedom Caucus member Andy Harris says his understanding is MTG no longer a member of the group after vote last month (that @Olivia_Beavers scooped at the time)
— Jordain Carney (@jordainc) July 6, 2023
That means, he noted, she can no longer attend the group’s weekly meetings.
Harris called it “an appropriate action”
HFC members “overwhelmingly” voted to remove Greene following a June 30 meeting, but the group had been holding off on formal expulsion pending a meeting between Greene and chairman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, two sources with knowledge of HFC dynamics told the Daily Caller. The sources were not able to confirm whether or not the Greene-Perry meeting took place.
Greene’s office did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the matter.
“HFC does not comment on membership or internal processes,” a spokesman for the group told the Daily Caller. Originally founded by nine Republicans in 2015, HFC has reportedly grown to around 36 GOP representatives.
Greene does not appear to be letting up in her feud with HFC. She repeatedly attacked longtime member Ken Buck of Colorado on Wednesday for his opposition to cutting Justice Department funding. Buck, a former federal prosecutor, has told colleagues to “be careful” on the issue.
“Any Republican who has said or even written ‘Drain the Swamp’ must be ready and willing to cut funding, use impeachment, and use the Holman rule,” Greene wrote, while sharing a screenshot of an article quoting Buck.
“Drain the swamp,” she quote-tweeted.
By Michael Ginsberg
