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Editor's Note: Two small grammatical errors were corrected. Read the updated story below.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned that her Republican Party will suffer in the mid-terms if the government shutdown drags on.
“Absolutely,” Greene answered when asked if Republicans are responsible for the shutdown. “We control the House. We control the Senate. We have the White House. I've been vocal saying, you know, you can use the nuclear option in the Senate. This doesn't have to be a shutdown. But what we have to do is we have to work for the American people, and our country is so divided right now.”
Greene added that while the shutdown doesn’t look good for any party, she said President Donald Trump isn’t getting “good advice” on backing extending the shutdown in a game of political chicken.
“I don't think it's good advice that a government shutdown is going to help Republicans in the midterms. I don't agree with that,” said Greene, disputing Trump’s opinion on the matter. “I also don't think it's good advice that Republicans ignoring the health insurance crisis is going to be good for midterms. I actually think that will be very bad for midterms.”
Speaking on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” Greene also said she opposed Republican House leadership’s decision to delay the swearing in of newly-elected Democrat Adelita Grijalva until Democrats concede to Republican’s budget and end the shutdown. She said she also opposed House Speaker Mike Johnson refusing to swear in Grijalva if the delay was for the purpose of avoiding letting Grijalva add her vote to a push to release more files regarding convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“There is a new Democrat that's been elected that does deserve to be sworn in," Greene said. "Her district elected her and we have other bills that we need to be passing. And if it’s to avoid the discharge petition, why drag this out that that is going to have 218 signatures? And so I say go ahead and do it and get it over with.”
“I genuinely do not understand why there's been any effort to hide this and prevent it from coming out,” she added.