Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Democrats’ Covid bill ‘enslaves’ the US and favours Black Americans in pre-vote rant

‘It pays reparations,’ Georgia Republican congresswoman claims of Covid bill

Just hours before Congress was set to pass an historic $1.9trn Covid relief bill on Wednesday, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a video to social media complaining that the package pays “reparations” to Black farmers to the exclusion of “the other races” and keeps the US “enslaved” to China and Japan by creating more national debt.

The Georgia Republican congresswoman’s incendiary — and falsely premised — comments came on the heels of the House voting against her motion to adjourn the chamber ahead of the pivotal vote on the Covid relief package.

“I hope you are not disappointed in your Republican representative,” Ms Greene said on Wednesday after dozens of House Republicans, who have grown weary of her trademark-but-completely-ineffectual stall tactic on Democratic legislation, voted with the Democratic majority on her motion to adjourn.

“And if you do find out that they voted no with the Democrats, I hope that you call them up or email them or call their office or send them a letter and let them know how you feel about them voting no.”

Ms Greene’s 14-minute video posted to her Facebook then veers into an airing of white grievances based on misrepresentations of the Covid bill.

“It does everything to help illegals,” the congresswoman said, referring to undocumented immigrants living in the US.

“It pays reparations. Farmers — white farmers don't get any help with their loan forgiveness but the other races do. They get help,” Ms Greene said, a comment that simply is not true.

While Ms Greene is hardly the first to seize on the talking point that the Covid relief bill’s $5bn programme for disadvantaged farmers is tantamount to “reparations” for Black farmers, Black farmers represent only roughly a quarter of the group eligible for the outlined aid.

The legislation does not preclude white farmers — or farmers of any other race, for that matter — from accessing the programme, which provides subsidies for loan repayments, training, education resources, and avenues to acquire more land, The Washington Post reported earlier this week.

Ms Greene’s video continues with criticism that the Covid bill will add to the national debt.

“It's disgusting,” she said. “We're already $28 trillion in debt. Japan and China own our debt. Japan and China own America because they own our national debt. And here the Democrats go, and they are shoving us into more debt.”

The congresswoman then used the metaphor of slavery to describe Americans’ financial relationship with China and Japan.

“We are enslaved like people with chains around our wrists and ankles,” she said.