House lawmakers have descended into the congressional equivalent of a troll war as tensions escalate over foreign aid, proposing multiple absurd amendments to a pending package.
The effort seems to mainly originate with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who adamantly opposes further aid to Ukraine and is currently threatening to force a vote to strip Speaker Mike Johnson of the House gavel.
She offered multiple amendments, including one to the Israel aid bill that would fund “space laser technology on the southern border.” For those who don’t recall, the Georgia GOP firebrand has been widely mocked for backing a conspiracy theory that Jewish space lasers were used to start California wildfires. She also proposed funding an Iron Dome, the defense system used by Israel, on the southern border of the U.S.
Additionally, Greene floated a measure that would require any House lawmaker voting for the Ukraine funding to “conscript in the Ukrainian military.” And she proposed redirecting the proposed Ukraine cash to victims of last year’s Maui wildfires, the East Palestine train disaster and to deport undocumented migrants.
She also submitted an amendment that would bar any funding until Ukraine bans abortion and turns over all information related to Hunter Biden. Another proposal from her would offset the cost with the salaries of Congress lawmakers who support it.
Her collective efforts prompted a clapback from Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) who floated renaming Greene’s House office the “Neville Chamberlain Room,” after the former U.K. prime minister best known for his policy of appeasement to Adolf Hitler.
The Florida Democrat also proposed an amendment that Greene be named “Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”
Of course, none of those measures have much of a chance at actually getting attached to the foreign aid package, as the Rules Committee considers the bills later Thursday. The back and forth is just a further sign of growing animosity in the House, specifically towards Greene as she threatens to throw the chamber back into speaker-less chaos.
