Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens funding cuts to sanctuary cities and NPR with DOGE committee

Speaking on Fox News, Georgia lawmaker said mayors and governors would have to explain why they deserve funding if they ‘harbor illegal criminal aliens’

Firebrand Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is gloating about cuts she could help enable as part of Elon Musk’s government efficiency drive.

MTG told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures what she has in store for her new subcommittee covering the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The subcommittee will operate under the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, headed by Rep James Comer of Kentucky, and will work alongside DOGE, led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, ostensibly to recommend major cuts government spending when Donald Trump becomes president.

Greene promised a “deep dive” into every government department and program, with one recommendation being to have leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities”, whose policies protect immigrants, explain why they deserve federal funding.

Georgia Rep Majorie Taylor Greene is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ on Fox News on November 24, 2024 (Fox News)

“I’d like to talk to the governors of sanctuary states and the mayors of sanctuary cities and have them come before our committee and explain why they deserve federal dollars if they’re going to harbor illegal criminal aliens in their states and their cities,” she said.

Asked by Bartiromo whether such cities and states would lose federal funding, she reiterated: “If they use their police officers and resources to harbor and protect illegal criminal aliens, then absolutely.”

Greene specifically mentioned the death of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens in February.

Her murderer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison this week. Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan immigrant who was in the country illegally, was allowed to leave New York City in September 2023 and traveled to Georgia.

In laying out other ways to slash the federal budget, Greene said: “The way to do that is to cut programs, contracts, employees, grant programs, you name it, that are failing the American people and not serving the American people’s interests.”

She also proposed making good on Musk’s wish to defund NPR, claiming it “spread nothing but Democrat propaganda” — although the public radio broadcaster gets less than one percent of its funding from federal grants.

Greene also promised to target grant programs that fund “sex apps in Malaysia” and “toilets in Africa” and to ask the Pentagon why they cannot find billions of dollars of funding each year and fail their audit.

Asked about the possible suspension of government contracts and how that would impact private sector publicly traded companies, the congresswoman said that is where the subcommittee would work hand-in-hand with Musk and Ramaswamy to “look deeply at these contracts” to see if they still make sense.

She claimed in many cases the cause and purpose of many contracts had expired and people should not have to pay for them but their budgets still get reauthorized.

Greene also said they would target “waste, fraud and abuse” from government employees continuing to work remotely long after the Covid-19 pandemic and the many government buildings sitting empty.