Exclusive–Marjorie Taylor Greene Hails the Passing of Her Amendment to Fire Pentagon Chief ‘A Huge Victory’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called the passing of her amendment to fire Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin a “huge victory” in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Wednesday.

“This is the first time that the Holman rule has been used in the 118th Congress, and it’s the first time the Holman rule has been used in years. So it was a huge victory,” Greene said.

Greene’s amendment called for the defense secretary’s salary to be reduced to $1 via the Holman rule, which allows members of Congress to reduce the salary of or fire specific federal employees, or cut specific programs via amendments to appropriations bills.

Greene said it is “essentially firing someone. They can’t get paid. They may still have their title, but they can’t receive a salary, which is, you know, essentially firing them.”

It was the first time in decades that any member of Congress has passed an amendment implementing the Holman Rule to hold executive branch officials accountable.

Greene said this was the first step of accountability for Austin’s “failure” as defense secretary.

First, she said he is responsible for the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“We all know that, which resulted in 13 deaths of our American soldiers, handing over billions of dollars of U.S. military equipment to the Taliban,” she said.

Second, she noted abysmal recruitment numbers.

“The recruitment numbers have reached a crisis level of low recruitment. The Army expects to fall 15,000 recruits short of its annual recruiting goal this year. The Navy is expecting to be short 10,000, and the Air Force is down another 3000. So that’s a devastating. Under his leadership, no one wants to join the military,” she said.

Third, she noted that more than 8,000 service members were forced out of the military because they refused to comply with the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate.

“His job description is to be the leader of the Department of Defense, but also to advise the President on military policy, and his military policies are nothing but failure. So this this is a huge win,” she said.

She also noted that Democrats did not object to the amendment, which was added to the House version of the defense appropriations bill, which funds the Pentagon.

“The amendment has now become part of the defense bill, and we have to pass the defense bill,” she said.

However, she acknowledged that passing the defense bill in its current form would not be likely. She said she voted no on bringing the defense appropriations bill to the floor, since it contained funding for Ukraine.

“That happened last night and the defense bill looks like it’s dead on arrival, because after I voted ‘no’ on the rule, it looks like more Republicans are going to be voting ‘no’ on the defense bill because of the money for Ukraine,” she said.

“When we do the defense bill again, we bring the same amendment to the floor, and since the House has already passed it, they should be able to pass it again,” she said.

She posted on X after the amendment passed, “I’m proud to let you know my amendment to FIRE Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just passed on the House floor. Under his failed leadership, our military is being destroyed and he doesn’t deserve to serve any longer. This is the first time in the 118th Congress the Holman rule has been used to hold a Biden official accountable. It’s time for more.”

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