Marjorie Taylor Greene Visits Dade

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

Marjorie Taylor Greene (U.S. House of Representatives, District 14) visited Dade County on Oct. 3, concluding the day with a town hall meeting at Dade County High School. The meeting was livestreamed on her Facebook page and is available to all viewers (with or without Facebook accounts).

The county commission meeting was at the same time, so the Sentinel couldn’t attend the town hall meeting, but Cindy Cross (Dade County GOP chairwoman) reported that it was well attended with well over a hundred people present.

Greene spoke for about an hour and spent another half an hour answering questions written by Dade citizens.

Unsurprisingly, many conservatives may agree with Greene’s concerns about our nation, and many liberals will likely disagree with her statements and views.

She recognized her team members that constituents can contact about any government-related problem or question. These staff members were at the town hall meeting and available to citizens.

Greene showed video clips from various committee hearings, discussing Andrew Cuomo and threats from China and Dr. Anthony Fauci and censorship of negative reports about the COVID-19 vaccine. She continued to Matthew Graves and unjust prosecution of peaceful Jan. 6 and abortion clinic protestors, making a distinction between violent Jan. 6 protestors. She discussed President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and condemned fentanyl.

Prior to discussing these clips, Greene recognized the war in Israel, calling the nation “our friend and ally,” and she discussed the immediately relevant topic of Hurricane Helene and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

She noted the major damage in Western North Carolina and reported that 41 counties in Georgia have been approved for recovery by FEMA. However, the White House has only approved $750 per victim of the storm.

Meanwhile, FEMA has spent over $1 billion year-to-date to house immigrants. Greene and many Republicans call these people illegal aliens, while many on the Left call them migrants.

Greene also listed other ways the United States has used our tax dollars this year:

• $9,000 per illegal alien/migrant
• $24.4 billion to Ukraine: Greene said $1 billion each month is going just to fund Ukraine’s government and is not going directly toward the war.
• $11.3 billion to Israel
• $1.95 billion to Ethiopia
• $1.6 billion to Jordan
• $1.4 billion to Egypt
• $1.1 billion to Afghanistan
• $1.1 to Somalia
• $1 billion to Yemen
• $987 million to Congo
• $896 million to Syria

Greene said, “I find it appalling and disgusting and shameful.” She later called this treason and, throughout the night, explained that her views are America First.

Some of the public’s questions furthered the discussion around these topics, and a few brought up new topics. One asked if there is a plan to deal with any illegal immigrants who are registered to vote. Greene said she doesn’t think enough is being done and has little faith in the Secretary of State’s report that they are auditing Georgia voter rolls to remove noncitizens.

One question asked if she would support bills to allow felons who have changed their lives to be able to vote again. Greene would be in favor of this.

Another question asked why Greene led early efforts to oust Mike Johnson as speaker of the house. She explained that he promised to pass 12 appropriations bills, but he didn’t. Instead, in May, he pushed a two-part omnibus bill, giving representatives only 24 hours to read through many pages that consolidated all 12 bills together. Greene said, “He forced us to vote on things we didn’t want to vote on and didn’t agree to.”

Then, Johnson pushed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and voted down an amendment that Greene said would have stopped “warrantless spying on Americans.”

Strike three for Greene was Johnson’s approval of sending $60 billion to Ukraine.

Another citizen asked if she would sponsor a bill to prevent pharmaceutical companies from being able to advertise on television. She said she would be in favor of such a bill, believing that conversations about medication should be between medical professionals and patients, but would need to see if any such bills are already in the works.

One question asked where she stands on immigrants receiving money through Social Security when they haven’t spent their lives paying into Social Security. Greene noted that this is a very serious concern. She explained the process of how people from other countries can enter America. U.S. Customs and Border Protection now offers an app, CBP One, to make it easier to enter.

Another question asked how school security could be improved. Greene said schools should be guarded the same way presidents are: “Guard them with men with guns.”

A question asked what policies Greene would enact to help with the housing crisis. She agreed that this is a problem and said the solution is to decrease government spending. “This is due to government spending. The inflation is out of control. Interest rates are high…Congress should never pass a budget unless it’s balanced.”

One question asked if evil leaders are a punishment from God. She said, “We’ve been murdering babies since 1973…It’s no wonder our nation feels like it is under judgment. Politics, in America today, is literally a fight between good and evil.”

One citizen expressed confusion and frustration about what’s going on in the house and senate. Greene had to laugh and said she’s as baffled as citizens are. Explaining that she is sometimes asked why Democrats accomplish so much and Republicans don’t, she said, “Democrats don’t care how much money they spend…Number two, they have no moral boundaries.”

However, she said Republicans want to cut spending and vote based on their morals, but the Right covers a broad spectrum of views. “That’s why you see Republicans, we’re fighting it out.”

Another question asked, if re-elected, will President Trump really allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to improve the food situation in America. Greene said she hopes so, and that for the first time ever, America imports more food than we export, making us reliant on foreign nations. Indeed, this is a well-documented trend from recent years.

Lastly, a citizen wrote, “Somebody needs to get TVA under control. The CEO is bringing home over $10 million per year while we are struggling to pay our electric bills, and TVA is about to raise rates again.”

Indeed, CEO of Tennessee Valley Authority Jeff Lyash’s 2023 salary was $10.5 million. Greene said her staff would look into this.