Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants To Slash Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Salary To $1, Considers Him A Failure

Amid the frantic efforts in Congress to formulate a strategy to avert a government shutdown, a curious proposal emerged from hard-right lawmakers: a proposition to reduce Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s salary to a mere $1.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced this amendment on the House floor, subjecting it to a voice vote on Wednesday.

In a peculiar turn of events, several lawmakers, who remain unidentified, voted in favor of the amendment, leading to its inclusion in a defense appropriation bill.

However, the fate of this amendment appears bleak, as the spending bill was already destined for failure in the Senate. The addition of Austin’s salary reduction further diminishes the prospects of the bill’s passage.

Greene’s proposal garnered support from a group of undisclosed Republicans, potentially aimed at placating a handful of hard-right conservatives, including Greene herself, who are presently obstructing government funding plans.

On the social media platform X, Greene placed blame squarely on Austin for the unraveling of the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In the summer of 2021, the Biden administration encountered significant challenges evacuating the remaining military forces and Afghan allies from Afghanistan. Their assessment underestimated the rapidity with which Taliban forces would topple the Afghan government.

Earlier in September, Greene directed her criticism at Austin, utilizing the X platform to assert that he had “failed in his role as Secretary of Defense and has jeopardized the national security of the United States.”

A spokesperson from the Pentagon declined to comment on the pending legislation, deeming it inappropriate to do so.

Notably, Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general, holds the distinction of being the first Black Secretary of Defense and secured a resounding 93-2 confirmation vote from a Senate committee in 2021. The only dissenting votes came from Republican senators Josh Hawley and Mike Lee.

Currently, Austin’s salary stands at $221,000, as reported by Military Times.

With the government teetering on the brink of a shutdown, thousands of federal employees face potential temporary layoffs. This situation places essential programs like SNAP benefits, social security payments, and even air travel in jeopardy.

On September 21, a group of staunchly conservative Republicans persisted in impeding the advancement of a spending agenda by rejecting a defense bill that traditionally garners bipartisan backing.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy voiced his exasperation following Thursday’s vote, remarking, “This is a whole new concept of individuals who just want to burn the whole place down. It doesn’t work.”