Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants to Cut Pay of Biden 'Henchman' to Just $1

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling for the salary of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to be cut to $1, saying he has "failed in his role" and accusing him of jeopardizing the "national security of the United States."

The Georgia Republican said her pay cut plan had been offered as an amendment to H.R. 4365, the 2024 defense appropriations bill now before Congress.

She posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday that her amendment would "receive a vote on the Floor of the House of Representatives later today."

Greene's vote did not go ahead, however.

A procedural vote to advance the spending bill had been scheduled for September 13, but it was canceled as Republican infighting in the House continued. Members of the Freedom Caucus and other GOP hardliners are pushing back against Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he tries to pass spending legislation, avoid a shutdown and hold on to his job.

The Georgia congresswoman, whose legislative record has been patchy since her election in 2020, filed several amendments on defense spending before the summer recess.

But her attempts to block funding for Ukraine and take the U.S. out of NATO were voted down in July.

Greene's office has been contacted via email for comment on her latest amendment.

When contacted by Newsweek, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense said it did not comment on pending or proposed legislation.

In social media posts on Wednesday, Greene said she had filed her plan to "gut the salary of one of Joe Biden's top America last henchmen" using the Holman rule. This House of Representatives rule allows amendments to appropriations legislation that would fire or reduce the salary of specific federal employees.

Greene cited the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2022 as one of her reasons.

She wrote: "Secretary Austin botched the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the death of 13 American soldiers along with the abandonment of American civilians and military equipment."

She went on: "During Secretary Austin's tenure, military recruitment has reached crisis levels of low recruitment. Instead of recruiting new soldiers, Secretary Austin has focused his efforts on purging the military through oppressive vaccine mandates and so-called extremism stand-downs."

The coronavirus vaccine mandate for all members of the armed forces was rescinded in January. In March this year, Austin testified to the Senate, saying the mandate had "saved a lot of lives" and had no real correlation with recruitment numbers.