Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday hammered House GOP leaders for putting Rep. Marjorie Greene on the Education Committee, just as revelations have emerged that the Georgia Republican has questioned the veracity of deadly school shootings around the country.
“It is absolutely appalling, and I think that the focus has to be on the Republican leadership of this House of Representatives for the disregard that they have for the death of those children,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol.
Pelosi said it’s “beyond the pale” that GOP leaders would place Greene on the Education panel.
“What could they be thinking? Or is thinking too generous a word for what they might be doing?” she asked.
“You’re just going to have to ask them why they thought that that raised itself to the level of something appropriate to do in the Congress of the United States,” she added.
When asked to respond, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the GOP leader is planning to speak with Greene.
“These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,” the spokesperson told The Hill.
Aside from her comments on school shootings, Greene has also come under criticism this week for past statements threatening violence against Democrats.
Pelosi at one point said “the enemy is within” the House.
Asked about the comment, she said: “It means that we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”
Greene is a staunch gun rights advocate and past supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
On the second day of President Biden’s tenure, Greene filed a resolution to impeach him. She has consistently been seen without a mask around the Capitol complex, in violation of rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The revelations about Greene have sparked an outcry among Democrats on Capitol Hill. Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), a former National Teacher of the Year, is circulating a letter to prevent Greene from being seated on the Education panel. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), chairman of that committee, called on McCarthy to “explain how someone with this background represents the Republican party on education issues.”
And Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) has gone a long step further, saying he’ll introduce a resolution to expel her.
Some Republicans have also joined in the criticism, with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a military veteran, saying she doesn’t represent the Republican Party.
“I don’t think she should have the privilege of any committees,” he told CNN on Thursday.
McCarthy said last week that he has spoken with Greene about the impeachment articles, emphasizing that he disagrees with her resolution.
“That’s exactly what the Democrats did with President Trump, and why we disagreed with when they wanted to come after him for purely political reasons,” he said in an interview with Greta Van Susteren.
But he and other GOP leaders have been largely silent about Greene’s comments related to the school shootings.
Updated at 2:24 p.m.