EDITOR’S NOTE:
The staff of the Rome News-Tribune sat down with returning Congressional Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene this week to speak about the beginning of a new term of Congress and her goals for this term in office. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
QUESTION: It’s a new year and you’re going into this session of Congress with at least two committee assignments. Looking back at the past two years, with that experience, what do you first see the next two years being like?
GREENE: Well, we first have to recognize that the previous two years, my first two years as a member of Congress, was under full Democratic control. That including the Democrat-controlled White House, and the Senate by one vote — Vice President Kamala Harris. We also had Nancy Pelosi, leading the Democrat majority in the House. So obviously my first two years Congress, Republicans had no control. We could not bring any of our bills to the House floor. So none of my legislation had the chance of seeing the light of day.
We had no controls on committees. Virtually no control whatsoever. And Nancy Pelosi who and the Democrats had removed me from committees against the will of the district, which they had been very vocal about. So I think we’re going to see a major difference in the next two years in a Republican-controlled House. Albeit it’s a very slim majority with only four seats....So we’ll see differences and I’ll be very reasonable because I’m grounded in my thinking. So, you’ll see Republican led legislation coming through the House and I’m very excited to to be a big player involved in the type of legislation we’re putting forth. And I’m very happy to be serving on committees that I think our district will really care about.
Oversight, which is extremely important, looking for waste, fraud and abuse from any federal government agency. I think that’s important because that’s outside of political parties, in my opinion, that’s important for every single American. And then also Homeland Security. I think is extremely important for our district, but also the entire country with the border invasion that we have happening. The amount of gotaways that is record numbers every single month, even known terrorists. The reports and arrest of known terrorist at our southern border has increased drastically from the previous administration. These things are important but I’ll tell you one, John, that I think is is devastating and heart heartbreaking.
It not only hits home but hits everywhere across America is the fentanyl deaths. This is the number one cause of death and young people ages 18 to 45. And it has had an impact, you know, in our district at home in Georgia. We’ve even lost, I think, several law enforcement officers in the district to fentanyl exposure, as well as large amount of overdoses and just basic fentanyl poisonings. So this this is a tragedy that I look forward to being a part of (attempting to fix)... (We) will be leading a lot of investigations on oversight. I think this will be very important for our district as well because it’s filled with conservatives who have had their First Amendment rights canceled by big tech companies: Twitter, Facebook, Google, Instagram. Many people have lost their ability to give their opinion, say their speech on social media. That will be really important.
I’m also going....to be serving on the COVID select committee that’s going to be a special committee. Where we will be investigating the origins of COVID. Any kind of federal funds and involvement in COVID even going as far as to the various reports on the CDC and investigating the vaccines as well. So that’s going to be a really big deal. And it’ll be on the news a lot.
But these these things will be extremely important for the district and I think that they’ll be paying attention to them. And so I look forward to that being involved in that area over the next two years.
QUESTION: With the amount of fentanyl and methamphetamine that we have in this district what are some of the things that you think you can do while in Congress to assist the district with combating drug trafficking that brings these dangerous drugs into this area?
GREENE: It’s something that if it just needs to be stopped, and it is it’s such a huge problem. You know, we have multiple ports in Georgia. We’ve got the port in Savannah. We also have our inland port up in Chatsworth, then we also have the city of Atlanta. So we have a lot of entrances where drugs can be brought into Georgia and then and very tragically, gets sold all over our state and in our district. But law enforcement needs support and funding to be able to investigate, arrest, and basically cut down on any amount of drug trafficking. I definitely will play a role in help there. But also understanding what’s coming across our border and pushing the Biden administration to do something about the border. Because, again, it’s not political anymore. It is really killing Americans. No matter how you vote. Fentanyl will kill you.
QUESTION: A recently published New York Times article outlined your relationship with Speaker McCarthy and the, frankly, glowing terms which he used to describe you and your assistance with getting that speakership. Do you think you’ll be able to leverage these kinds of relationships to the benefit of the 14th district?
GREENE: Absolutely, of course, I will... Success for every single member of Congress, and this goes for people in business as well, is your ability to create relationships with others, work those relationships and be able to come to agreements and negotiation. If you’re a business that benefits your customer, if you’re a member of Congress that benefits your district...I’ve worked very hard, and if you read that New York Times piece, then you got a good look into...the relationship that we’ve built over the past two years. I definitely think that it will benefit our district and he’s already talked to me about coming into the district. So I think that’s a great thing for Georgia’s 14th district to look forward to the Speaker of the House coming to visit.
QUESTION: I believe you were responsible for bringing first sitting U.S. president to Floyd County when President Trump came in just prior to the election. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard.
GREENE: (laughs) I played a slight role in that. Right. Yeah I was honored to get him to come to Rome. And then he came back again to Dalton.
QUESTION: Looking back on your first term, what are you most proud of?
GREENE: So again, I’m having to recognize the Republicans had no control it was it was difficult and I didn’t have committees thanks to Nancy Pelosi. But what I’m most proud of is taking the voice of the people, basically the base of the Republican Party and carrying their voices into Kevin McCarthy’s office and and explaining to him this is what’s important. Just explaining what everyday Americans care about whether it’s moms that were upset they couldn’t find baby formula or farmers who were being devastated by inflation and the cost of fertilizer and the ability to be able to grow foods that we desperately need. (Communicating the needs of) small businesses that just were, and still are, reeling from the COVID pandemic and how it affected our economy. Our family values, our traditional family values, that are basically being trampled and destroyed with with sexualization of our education system, and the types of things that are being talked about online.
So these are the types of things, oh as well as people feel about the vaccines. That was something that was really important (also) getting rid of the military vaccine mandates and explaining that the two tiered justice system we’re seeing from the Department of Justice and the treatment of January 6 pretrial defendants versus Antifa and BLM protesters through 2020. Just carrying those concerns of regular Americans into Kevin McCarthy’s office and having him hear me and understand how important they are. I’d say that that’s what I’m most proud of in my first term.
QUESTION: As you go into your second term, if you could have given one piece of advice to yourself going into your first, what would it have been?
GREENE: I think it would have been be careful of who you trust and believe. Because even if someone appears a certain way or you think you understand who they are, they may not always be telling the truth. So just just be smart and wary. Buy yeah, I definitely learned a lot and I know a lot of people now have a lot of relationships, and I’m looking forward to (the second term). I’m definitely more cautious but but I’m still extremely tenacious, hardworking and will continue to fight for Georgia’s 14th district. Even if they don’t vote for me I will still be fighting for what’s what’s good for their businesses, their jobs, their kids and everything.
QUESTION: What was one of the most surprising things to you about Congress that you learned in your first term?
GREENE: Gosh, there were so many surprises. Congress is so broken. That was, it still is, something that shocks me. You know we’re responsible for the American people’s hard earned tax dollars. And it is shocking to me how irresponsible basically everyone has been with the American people’s money. And that’s why we’re seeing inflation so high today and we’re looking at having to raise the debt ceiling for record amount of spending. But it took decades to get here right> Both parties played a part and that that is something that I think is extremely sad and so irresponsible (from) both parties and the federal government. And it still shocks me when I read bills and they have like hundreds millions of dollars and they’re spending it on things that (would cause) the average American’s jaw to hit the ground. Then it just would be like why — what’s the point in this? That that still surprises me to this day. But hopefully we’ll do a better job. That’s one of our key priorities is to reduce spending, because it reduces inflation and that affects every single person’s wallet and checking account.
QUESTION: Wrapping up, is there anything you’d like to just say to your constituents?
GREENE: I just want to always say thank you so much for sending me to represent them. And it’s an honor and I take it very seriously.
