WASHINGTON (JTA) — Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia not known for being understated, called Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline “Mussolini” for seeking a rule change to stop her disruptive tactics.
“I’m an Italian and a Jew,” Cicilline shot back on Twitter. “Mussolini was a fascist dictator in league with Adolf Hitler, who murdered six million Jews. Marjorie Taylor Greene can get lost.”
Attempting to frustrate the passage Wednesday of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus, Greene on several occasions sought to exploit a rule that allows individual House members to seek an adjournment. The House, including many Republicans, loudly said “No!” in a voice vote, but Greene, a freshman, then exercised her right to to seek a time-consuming roll call.
That led Cicilline to propose stripping the right to adjourn from members who do not belong to committees. Last month, the House of Representatives stripped Greene of her committee memberships for peddling threats and conspiracy theories, including some with anti-Semitic themes.
Newsweek asked Greene for comment on Cicilline’s proposal.
“Do you mean Rep. Mussolini?” she said. “‘Not only did Democrats unilaterally strip away my committees, now they want to remove any powers I have to represent my district. The Democrats run the House of Hypocrites with tyrannical control.”
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