Resolution would expel controversial Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House
It would be the first successful House expulsion attempt in almost two decades.
Context
Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA14) has proven one of the most obstreperous members of Congress within just a few months.
Both before and after her 2020 election, her incendiary actions included liking a social media post calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s assassination, calling an Italian-American Democratic House colleague “Mussolini,” and seeking to launch a caucus within the House for members representing “uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”
The House can expel any of its own members with a two-thirds vote of the chamber. (The Senate does not have a say.) The punishment is extremely rare, occurring only five times in American history, and only once in the past 40 years.
What the resolution does
A new resolution would expel Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House of Representatives.
It was introduced on March 19 as H.Res. 260, by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA34).
What supporters say
Democratic supporters argue that although there are plenty of Republican politicians on the other side of the aisle who they dislike, Rep. Greene’s is on another level and poses a threat to the American system of government.
“As if it weren’t enough to amplify conspiracy theories that the September 11 attacks were an inside job and the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was staged, a string of recent media reports has now confirmed that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had previously supported social media posts calling for political violence against the Speaker of the House, members of Congress, and former President Barack Obama,” Rep. Gomez said in a press release.
“Such advocacy for extremism and sedition not only demands her immediate expulsion from Congress, but it also merits strong and clear condemnation from all of her Republican colleagues,” Rep. Gomez continued. “Her very presence in office represents a direct threat against the elected officials and staff who serve our government, and it is with their safety in mind, as well as the security of institutions and public servants across our country, that I call [for expulsion].”
What opponents say
Rep. Greene counters that she did nothing wrong, and Democrats are only trying to expel her because they view her as a threat to their agenda.
“I have never broken a law, I’ve never used drugs, I’ve never had a DUI, I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve never done anything wrong,” Rep. Greene said on Steve Bannon’s show War Room. (That’s actually inaccurate, since she violated Georgia state law by filing for two active homestead exemptions, even though state law caps it at one.)
“I said a few offensive things on social media some years back, which I have publicly denounced and apologized for,” Rep. Greene continued. “But today, Democrats — with over 70 of them — introduced a resolution to have me expelled from Congress.” (It’s true that Rep. Greene expressed regret for her past words in a House floor speech, though her comments don’t seem to have particularly toned down since then.)
Even many top Democrats believe it was enough to remove Rep. Greene from her House committee assignments, which the House voted to do on February 4 by 230–199. The vote was almost entirely on party lines, with Democrats voting 219–0 in favor and Republicans largely voting against 11–199.
“What Mr. Gomez did is his own view,” Speaker Pelosi said at a press conference. “And that is not [the] leadership’s position.”
Odds of passage
The expulsion resolution has attracted 72 cosponsors, all Democrats. It awaits a potential vote in the House Ethics Committee, where the chair Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL22) has signed on as a cosponsor.
Even if all Democrats got on board including leadership, the party’s House majority is 51.1 percent, nowhere near the two-thirds necessary for expulsion.
For what it’s worth, Rep. Greene herself subsequently introduced an expulsion resolution for Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA43), based on Waters’ comments that Black Lives Matter protesters needed to “stay on the street” and “get more confrontational” if Derek Chauvin was acquitted for the death of George Floyd. (Chauvin was later convicted, and none of Waters’ comments — unlike Greene’s — could have been reasonably interpreted as calling for someone’s execution.)
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This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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