Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Tries To Attach ‘Space Lasers’ Amendment To Israel Funding Bill

In a demonstration of her opposition to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed foreign aid package, controversial Rep.Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) presented a series of amendments to the bills on Wednesday. Among these amendments was a peculiar suggestion to allocate funds for the “development of space laser technology on the southwest border.”

Greene, whose political reputation was tarnished in the early stages of her congressional term when Media Matters exposed her claim in a social media post that “Jewish space lasers” were responsible for a wildfire in California, proposed a plan to utilize such space lasers to safeguard the southern border of the United States.

On Wednesday, Greene posted to X, “I’ve previously voted to fund space lasers for Israel’s defense. America needs to take our national security seriously and deserves the same type of defense for our border that Israel has and proudly uses.” 

Among her other amendments is one that would require all members of Congress who vote for the Ukraine bill to “conscript in the Ukrainian military”; another would prohibit funding until Ukraine “closes all bio-laboratories.” 

Although these proposals are not serious policy measures, their precise intent is difficult to determine. Greene has long opposed providing additional aid to Ukraine, and it can be inferred that the assortment of outlandish amendments she submitted to Johnson’s recently revealed aid package provokes her colleagues and conveys her unwavering stance on border security. 

Greene is not alone in this strategy. Several other conservative Republicans have submitted multiple amendments that serve more symbolic than legislative purposes. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) proposed an amendment to “strike line 1 on page 1 and all that follows.”

Greene recently suggested, without evidence, that Speaker Johnson was being “bribed” into supporting Ukraine aid. 

On Saturday, the foreign aid package passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.