Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Saturday blasted the Trump administration’s efforts to spend $50 billion to improve the air traffic control system as officials took advantage of a national shutdown of flights, trying to bleed taxpayers of their money.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican from Georgia who was fired by President Donald Trump after their January disagreement, commented at a press conference Friday night. During the conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin blamed old equipment for the malfunction and appealed to Congress for urgent money.
“I’m literally blown away by the amount of people that fell for the total garbage that they got fed at that press conference yesterday,” Greene tweeted.
The Federal Aviation Administration suspended all departures in the U.S. starting at 3:54 p.m. EST on Friday after a communications system failure in air traffic control centers responsible for coordinating flights between airports. The ground stop lasted over four hours, causing thousands of cancellations and flight delays, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded and likely to affect the rest of the weekend. It is the second shutdown of this kind since 9/11.
Duffy explained that the communications equipment became overloaded by data and stopped working, and warned that the system will fail until it undergoes a complete modernization. Hours before shutdown, the administration has requested an additional $30.1 billion for air traffic control infrastructure. During the press conference, he reiterated that figure.
“This is an emergency. I want $50 billion,” Duffy said.
He stressed the need for the request as a bipartisan issue, saying that “the president can’t deliver for America unless the Congress delivers the money.”
Mullin denied that a cyberattack caused the malfunction. He added that the investigation into incompatibilities between old communications equipment and newly installed equipment is now underway. Congress allocated $12.5 billion for air traffic control modernization last year.
Greene noted that the government spends a lot of money abroad while it doesn’t address its internal problems.
“If you’re an American, we as a country are in over $40 trillion in debt, have spent approximately $15 trillion in foreign countries and foreign wars over the past 25 years, and yet they have done shit updating our infrastructure that is literally falling apart,” she wrote.
Also, Greene accused the government of creating panic during the shutdown and misleading the public about the problem.
“And then they force all airplanes to stop yesterday creating chaos all over the country and fear among the American people sending them to the grocery stores buying emergency supplies and then they turn around and demand more money, $50 billion, and then lie at a press conference about what happened,” Greene wrote. “I don’t care who they are. I don’t care who you voted for, if you’re not pissed off then there is absolutely no help for you.”
Greene agreed that the system should be updated and stressed that the government collects enough taxes in order to do it.
“Yes, duh, we need to update our systems. Yes, duh, it takes money to do that. We, as Americans, pay $5.7 trillion a year in taxes; they have plenty of money to update all of our infrastructure all over the country if they actually gave a damn, they would do it,” she wrote. “But they don’t give a damn. And if you’re living under some delusion that they do, then you’re beyond help.”
In earlier posts, Greene referred to the press conference as “literally like a shakedown for more money” and, without proof, blamed the administration for a cyberattack. She also blamed Duffy and Mullin, former congressmen, for trying to take advantage of the situation ahead of the funding deadline.
During Saturday’s post, Greene widened her criticism to the government itself, saying that politicians from all parties are answering the needs of special interest groups.
“Washington DC doesn’t work for you the American people no matter which party is in control. They work for the big corporations and lobbyists, the big donors that fund their campaigns, and even foreign nations for foreign causes. Wake up!” Greene wrote.
She called voters to stop supporting political parties like fans of a sports team.
“The American people are basically raped, robbed, and pillaged over and over again, and if you continue to stay loyal to a political party like you are for your favorite sports team and excuse every single failure just because that’s your party, then you are not able to face truth and reality, and nothing will ever change,” she wrote. “You get treated like crap because you take it and you continue to vote for it.”
“I’ve been to Washington. I know how it works,” Greene wrote. “The bullshit ends when you finally stand up for yourself and realize they’ve been lying to you all along and using you like a dirty rag, and they have no intention of changing anything.”
