Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants to Use This Rule to Carry Out Trump's Wishes
Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested reinstating the Holman Rule in response to Donald Trump urging Republicans in Congress to "defund" the FBI and Department of Justice.
Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of weaponizing law enforcement as the former president called for defunding the FBI and DOJ only a day after he was arrested and arraigned on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The Holman Rule was introduced to the House of Representatives in 1876 and allowed members of Congress to propose amendments to appropriations bills that target specific programs or individuals, including federal employees. Programs and specific workers can be stripped of pay or fired under the rule. Changes can also be made to a specific agency, office, or program.
"REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TOTALLY WEAPONIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT IN OUR COUNTRY AND ARE VICIOUSLY USING THIS ABUSE OF POWER TO INTERFERE WITH OUR ALREADY UNDER SIEGE ELECTIONS!" Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social.
Greene, a far-right Republican and a staunch Trump supporter, responded to the post: "I couldn't agree more, Mr. President! This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say we need to use the Holman Rule to reign in the Democrats' weaponization of government."
Trump appeared in a New York courthouse on Tuesday after he was indicted by a grand jury in an investigation led by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office into alleged hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Daniels had claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump, who became the first president to be indicted in U.S. history, denied the affair and repeatedly asserted his innocence throughout the course of the investigation.
Greene previously cited the Homan Rule in November, saying that Republicans will reinstate it after they take control of the House, which they narrowly won in the 2022 midterm elections.
The rule passed in the House in January as part of a rules package that governs House operations under the leadership of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The package of rules passed with a 220-213 vote, with one Republican and all Democrats opposing, according to CBS News.
The Holman Rule still needs to pass in the Senate before being signed into law, but the Senate Democratic majority would need 60 votes to kill the Holman provisions passed by the House, according to the Pew Research Center. This attempt needs votes from almost a dozen Republicans to move ahead.
The Holman Rule was heavily criticized when it was recently reintroduced. In January, Democratic Representative Ritchie Torres of New York said that Congressional members being allowed to cut the pay of individual federal employees is "no way to govern."
Meanwhile, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE)—a labor union that represents public employees in the federal government— recently called for opposing any use of the Holman Rule during any appropriations considerations on the House floor.
"This rule is the choice vehicle for ethically corrupt members of Congress who seek to purge the operational funding of agencies and programs that run counter to their outside political interests," the NFFE said.
The labor union also warned that this rule can "devastate the effectiveness of the federal government and its workforce."
"It can destroy our intelligence and defense capabilities, compromise fair banking and commerce, threaten our international prowess, and collapse regional infrastructure and community projects at the whim of one outlier member of Congress," it added.
Newsweek reached out to Marjorie Taylor Greene's press team via email for comment.
