Republicans follow their new leader, Marjorie Taylor Greene [View all]

[Zorro]

This is the price America pays for Kevin McCarthy’s ambition.

To understand the consequences of the many concessions the House speaker made to get his job, look at what has happened to the House Committee on Homeland Security. Created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, it used to be a place where lawmakers took pride in overcoming partisanship for the sake of national security.

Then came the GOP takeover of the House this year. In his wisdom, McCarthy agreed not only to restore Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments (she had been stripped of them for glorifying violence against colleagues) but also to give her a seat on Homeland Security.

Last week, the Georgia Republican used her elevated status to praise Jack Teixeira, the National Guard airman and suspected leaker of highly classified U.S. intelligence about Ukraine, China and more. “Jake (sic) Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene tweeted, adding, “Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?”

But Greene wasn’t content merely to label the American president “the real enemy.” Next came a hearing Wednesday at which the panel was to grill Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the Biden administration’s proposed 2024 budget. Midway through the session, after Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) questioned Mayorkas about the effects of calls from GOP officials such as Donald Trump and Greene to “defund the FBI,” Greene began her five minutes of questioning with a sweet smile and a breathtaking libel.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/21/marjorie-taylor-greene-homeland-security-committee-house-gop/