Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—a vocal opponent of Congress sending large foreign aid packages to Ukraine and Israel—offered a series of unserious amendments to the proposed legislation to fund the countries on Wednesday.
But her some proposed amendments are not a step in good-faith negotiation and are all but doomed to fail due to their sarcastic nature.
On aid to Israel, Greene’s amendment states that funds made available by the legislation “shall be used for the development of space laser technology on the southwest border,” a reference to a conspiracy theory she floated in 2018 that was unearthed and stoked mockery years later.
In a Facebook post that is no longer online, Greene theorized that a devastating wildfire in California was caused by “lasers or blue beams of light” and “space solar generators” while speculating that “Rothschild Inc, international investment banking firm” was somehow involved.
Other amendments offered by Greene to that bill include providing funding for an “Iron Dome” at the U.S. southern border and completion of the border wall, as well as prohibiting certain funding until every hostage held in Gaza has been released.
But the majority of Greene’s amendments concerned the aid bill for Ukraine.
Perhaps the most outlandish amendment she proposed would require “all Members of Congress who vote in favor of this Act to conscript in the Ukrainian Military.”
Other amendments she offered included prohibiting funding until Ukraine closes all bio-laboratories, redirecting the bill’s funding “to initiate mass deportations of illegals” in the U.S., directing the U.S. to withdraw from NATO, conditioning funding on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s resignation, and blocking funds unless Ukraine bans abortion.
Accusations that Ukraine secretly ran bio-labs with the U.S. have long festered on the right.
Greene’s antics drew condemnation from critics online—as well as dueling ironic amendments from Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.).
“Based on what Marjorie Taylor Greene’s been doing, that’s why today I filed an amendment—it’s in the system—which would name her Congress’ Special Envoy to Putin, so that way we can just make it official quite frankly,” Moskowitz said in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
He added: “There is not a circumstance where I sit in the People’s House and allow Marjorie Taylor Greene to throw the world into chaos and to embolden China, to embolden Russia, by letting her garbage stop us from standing by our allies. What would the message be to the world—not just Ukraine and Israel—all of our allies? They will look at us now as not dependable, they will say democracy is on the decline. Democrats are not going to stand for that.”
Moskowitz also submitted an amendment proposing that Greene’s office be renamed the “Neville Chamberlain Room,” a reference to the former U.K. prime minister known for his foreign policy of appeasement and compromise with Nazi Germany before World War II.
On X, Greene defended the two amendments raising the most attention on social media—the space laser amendment and requirement for members to enlist in the Ukrainian military.
“I mean if you want to fund the war, why don’t you go fight in it. Show your support for Ukraine,” she wrote Wednesday night. Greene added in a second post on Thursday morning: “If you want to fund the endless foreign wars, you should have to go fight them.”
She also addressed the proposed amendment on the Israel bill, saying: “Israel has some of the best unmanned defense systems in the world. I’ve previously voted to fund space lasers for Israel’s defense. America needs to take our national security seriously and deserves the same type of defense for our border that Israel has and proudly uses.”
The amendment antics come after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) finally unveiled the legislative text for three foreign aid bills—for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan respectively—in spite of weeks of pressure from hardliners in his party.
Greene has not proposed any amendments to the Taiwan-focused bill.
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