House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries listed GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as an ally on the other side of the aisle during the longest government shutdown in modern history, after she spent weeks blasting her fellow Republicans over their handling of health care.
Hours before the House voted Wednesday to approve a Senate-passed funding package to end the shutdown, Jeffries was asked by “CBS Evening News” co-anchor John Dickerson if he found any Republican allies during the 43-day impasse.
The Democratic leader replied: “Three words — Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
“She’s been very clear that this health care crisis is not made up, it’s real, Republicans have no health care plan, and that Democrats are correct in fighting to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” Jeffries continued.
Health insurance played a central role in the shutdown fight. Most Democrats refused to back any deal to fund the government that didn’t include an extension of Biden-era tax credits that expanded the subsidies available to Americans who buy their insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces. If the credits expire, many people who rely on the tax credits could see their premiums double, according to KFF.
The conflict ended after eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus agreed to reopen the government in exchange for a promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune to hold a separate vote on the tax credits. Most Democrats voted against that deal, which passed in both chambers this week.
Meanwhile, Greene — an often-pugnacious and controversial Georgia Republican who isn’t shy about criticizing Democrats — has repeatedly lashed out against her party’s leadership, accusing them of failing to come up with a plan to deal with the expiring subsidies.
“Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING,” she wrote on X last month in a post that noted she’s “not a fan” of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Weeks later, she wrote: “Apparently I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan,” referring to the secure facilities that government agencies use to handle highly classified documents.
Greene has also criticized Speaker Mike Johnson for keeping the House out of session during the shutdown: “It’s an embarrassment,” she told “The View,” and she pushed Republicans to focus more on addressing the cost of living (“I see Republicans losing the House if Americans are continuing to go paycheck-to-paycheck,” she told Semafor).
And she’s suggested the Trump administration has focused too much on foreign policy in recent months, leading President Trump to say: “I don’t know what happened to Marjorie — nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think.”
Over the course of the shutdown, Jeffries and other Democrats have regularly pointed to Greene, citing the hard-right lawmaker’s comments on health care to back up their own views. It’s an odd alliance, just under five years after House Democrats voted to take away Greene’s committee assignments over conspiratorial statements she made before joining Congress.
On Wednesday, Dickerson asked Jeffries how he would’ve reacted if he were told six months ago that he’d eventually be quoting Greene.
The New York Democrat responded: “I would have said, ‘I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.'”
