Marjorie Taylor Greene pushes bizarre ‘space laser,’ Ukraine conscription amendments to House foreign aid bills
She’s beaming out some legislation.
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) set about causing headaches for Republican leadership Thursday, trying to slip amendments into foreign aid bills calling for the development of “space laser technology on the southwest border” and mandating lawmakers who back Ukraine aid be conscripted into Kyiv’s military.
Greene’s “space laser” amendment is meant to be included in a bill doling out $26.38 billion in aid to Israel, though there is no guarantee that GOP brass will take it to the House floor for a vote.
“Israel has some of the best unmanned defense systems in the world. I’ve previously voted to fund space lasers for Israel’s defense,” the 49-year-old explained.
“America needs to take our national security seriously and deserves the same type of defense for our border that Israel has and proudly uses.”
Prior to her election to Congress in 2020, Greene notoriously trafficked in conspiracy theories, posting on Facebook in 2018 that the Rothschild banking family helped deploy space lasers that had caused wildfires in California.
Greene later disavowed that claim and admitted that she fell prey to misinformation online, but her beliefs have dogged her ever since.
Occasionally, Greene has poked fun at herself over the meme, posting, “Love Jewish lasers Space or land Zap ‘em!” on X in October while sharing a post about Israel’s experimental Iron Beam project.
Last month, however, Greene fumed at a BBC journalist who asked her whether she still believes in “Jewish space lasers.”
“Why don’t you f–k off? How about that? Thanks,” Greene seethed.
In the $60.8 billion Ukraine package, Greene pitched an amendment stipulating that “any Member of Congress who votes in favor of this Act shall be required to conscript in the Ukrainian military.”
One of her critics, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), fired back with an amendment of his own, crowning her “Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”
Another amendment Moskowitz proposed would rename Greene’s congressional office the “Neville Chamberlain Room,” referencing the former British prime minister accused of appeasing Adolf Hitler.
Greene, who is steadfastly opposed to replenishing Ukraine’s lethal military aid, also proposed amendments aimed at diverting funds from that package to the victims of a chemical train spill in East Palestine, Ohio, and wildfires in Maui, Hawaii.
Those provisions drew praise from former first son Donald Trump Jr.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is forging ahead this week with votes on foreign aid, a thorny issue among Republicans that threatens to undermine his speakership.
Democrats and foreign leaders had pleaded with Johnson for weeks to replenish aid to war-torn Ukraine. A $95 billion supplemental package cleared the Senate in February, allocating aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific.
The speaker opted to split those into four bills to give members a chance to vote on each item individually.
From there, he intends to stitch the bills together under a procedural technique known as the MIRV rule and send a single bill to the Senate. A fifth bill dealing with border security is expected to be sent to the upper chamber separately, should it pass the House of Representatives.
All of this has ignited a civil war within the House GOP. Greene has emerged as the face of Johnson’s opposition, threatening a motion to vacate the chair that would oust Johnson as speaker if it passes.
The Peach State Republican has raged against Johnson for pushing through spending bills she loathed, as well as reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and now Ukraine aid.
“My philosophy is you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “If I operated out of fear of a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job.”
