Far-right Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene was schooled on congressional procedure by Democratic Rep Rosa DeLauro, 80, after the Republican mocked her age and suggested that she was forgetting things.
“My Democrat colleague across the aisle, who's 80 years old and has been here over 30 years, just said we're on the verge of a shutdown,” Ms Greene said on the House floor on Tuesday night. “She probably just forgot that a few hours ago, she voted for the continuing resolution that will extend the budget, and we are not on the verge of a shutdown. So I just wanted to note that for the record.”
Ms DeLauro, who has represented Connecticut’s 3rd District since 1991, told Ms Greene, who joined the House three decades later in 2021, that “it may be that the gentlelady doesn't know that there’s another body attached to the US Congress called the United States Senate. And they have to vote on the continuing resolution”.
“And when they vote on it, we'll find out what it is that they do with regard to this continuing resolution passed by the House, which quite frankly, is flawed to a fare thee well ... in meeting our obligations, both domestic and international,” she added. “And by the way, it isn’t a law of the land until the president of the United States signs it. That may be a basic level lesson in civics.”
“There is the House, there is the Senate, and there is the president. And quite frankly, the budget agreement that had been signed by the president – for a basic primer in civics – is that the budget agreement passed the House overwhelmingly. And it passed the Senate. And it was signed by the president,” Ms DeLauro said. “It’s the law of the land, which my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have dismissed, walked away from, and quite frankly, don’t understand the process of government.”
Tuesday was a chaotic day on Capitol Hill, with Rep Tim Burchett accusing former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of giving him a “clean shot to the kidneys” and Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin having to be talked down by Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders after Mr Mullin challenged a hearing witness to a physical fight.
Not wanting to be overshadowed, Ms Greene began the day on Tuesday by slamming her own colleagues who didn’t support her effort to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorks.
Texas US Rep Jasmine Crockett mocked Ms Greene on X on Wednesday morning, writing: “Too much was going on yesterday, but of course Marjorie Taylor Greene had to be in the midst of the chaos, as well. So it comes out that she called another member of her conference a P**#% & then there was this Gem, where she attempted to say that due to Ranking Member DeLauro’s age, she was confused… Rep DeLauro proceeded to school her in civics. #GOPClownCaucus.”
Democratic congressional staffer Thomas Falcigno wrote: “I’ve worked for Rosa DeLauro, twice in fact. I can tell you the amount of substantive work she does for her constituents in a single day is more than MTG has ever done during her entire tenure in the House.”
