WASHINGTON — The White House pushed back on Republican talk of impeachment as "a partisan stunt" after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., vowed to not vote for funding the government without proceedings.
"I've already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry," Greene said.
During a town hall Thursday night to her constituents and later in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Greene said she would not vote on necessary budget bills unless impeachment proceedings begin for President Joe Biden.
Failing to fund the government would lead to a shutdown when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, which could result in furloughed workers, closed agencies and place many essential programs in peril.
The House has only passed one of 12 budget bills needed to fund the government with the deadline to do so less than a month away.
The White House on Thursday asked Congress to pass a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government while long-term budget negotiations continue. Even before Greene's comments, deep divisions remain between the parties with Republicans looking to implement large spending cuts unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Greene also said she would not vote on budget measures if the House did not "defund Biden's weaponization of government," end Covid-19 mandates and stop funding to Ukraine.
White House spokesperson Ian Sams forcefully pushed back on Greene in a statement, saying millions of dollars had already been wasted on the "wild goose chase" that is the investigation into Biden and his family.
"One of the House's most powerful members, Marjorie Taylor Greene, just admitted that the House Republican impeachment is only a partisan stunt driven by the most extreme, far-right members," Sams said.
Republicans have yet to show any evidence of wrongdoing by Biden when he was vice president and his son Hunter was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, or that Biden benefited at all from his son's role.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has begun to warn his members that failing to fund the government could have adverse effects on their impeachment probe, which in a Fox News interview last Sunday, he called "a natural next step."
"If we shut down, all of government shuts down — investigations and everything else," McCarthy told Fox News on Sunday.
In an interview with Breitbart News on Friday, McCarthy said if the House opens an impeachment inquiry into Biden, there will be a formal vote to do so.
"If we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People's House and not through a declaration by one person," McCarthy said.