Blog

Your Education Road Map

Politics K-12®

ESSA. Congress. State chiefs. School spending. Elections. Education Week reporters keep watch on education policy and politics in the nation’s capital and in the states. Read more from this blog.

Federal

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Barred From Spot on the Education Committee

By Andrew Ujifusa — February 04, 2021 2 min read
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 13, 2021.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted not to allow a GOP congresswoman to join the House education committee, following a storm of controversy over her support for claims that school shootings were false flag operations or somehow staged.

In a Thursday vote, the House decided to bar Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from taking a position on two committees, Education and Labor and Budget, that House Republican leaders assigned her to last week. The vote was 230-199, with 11 Republicans joining 219 Democrats.

Greene reportedly apologized to GOP colleagues at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday about her comments about school shootings, which were posted on social media before her election to Congress in November. And on the House floor Thursday, she told her colleagues, “School shootings are absolutely real. And every child that is lost, those families mourn it.” She called her prior social media posts “words of the past” that don’t represent her, but didn’t apologize directly to the families and students affected by school shootings that she commented on. Her remarks failed to prevent the vote to bar her from her committee positions.

Greene’s posts on social media about the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and other school shootings, as well as her endorsement of violence against Democrats, received widespread media attention, and the backlash from Democrats was quick.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the chairman of the House education committee, called on GOP House leaders to reverse course and not place Greene on the committee, a sentiment that was echoed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Dozens of organizations, including Sandy Hook Promise, a group that works to protect children from gun violence and was founded by parents whose children died in school shootings at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, have also taken the same position. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., channeled the anger many felt towards Greene in a Thursday House floor speech.

“Our teachers and our students are watching,” McGovern said, noting that members of his family are educators. “I can’t imagine how they feel, knowing that someone who says the deadliest high school shooting in our nation’s history was a false flag operation, how they will feel if that person sits behind the dais of the education committee, or behind the dais of any committee.”

See Also

Rep. Jahana Hayes , D-Conn., addresses delegates during the Democratic convention for the 5th District in Waterbury, Conn., on May 14, 2018.
Rep. Jahana Hayes , D-Conn., addresses delegates during the Democratic convention for the 5th District in Waterbury, Conn., on May 14, 2018.
Jim Shannon/Republican-American via AP

It is unusual for one party to openly question or attack decisions by another party in Congress about committee assignments.

But Scott and others said Greene’s support for unfounded conspiracy theories about Parkland, along with her other stated positions, crossed a line.

Greene was one of 11 freshmen GOP lawmakers assigned to the House education panel by Republican leaders last week. Greene likely would not have exercised much influence over legislation considered by the committee; a spokesman for Greene said last week she was focused on issues like school choice and reopening schools. But any time Greene had for questioning witnesses during the committee, for example, could have become a media circus.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., dismissed her appointment to the education committee in comments to CNN by saying it was “not considered a good committee” to be on, but also said he did not think she should serve on any committees.

Related Tags:

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Biden Admin. Warns Schools to Protect Students From Antisemitism, Islamophobia
The U.S. Department of Education released a "Dear Colleague" letter reminding schools of their obligation to address discrimination.
3 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at the Department of Education on Sept. 20, 2023 in Washington.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview in his office at the U.S. Department of Education on Sept. 20, 2023 in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Federal What Educators Should Know About Mike Johnson, New Speaker of the House
Johnson has supported restructuring federal education funding, as well as socially conservative policies that have become GOP priorities.
4 min read
House Speaker-elect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., addresses members of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 25, 2023. Republicans eagerly elected Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the seat of U.S. power and ending for now the political chaos in their majority.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., addresses members of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 25, 2023. Johnson has a supported a number of conservative Republican education priorities in his time in Congress.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Federal America's Children Don't Have a Federal Right to Education. Will That Ever Change?
An education scholar is launching a new research and advocacy institute to make the case for a federal right to education.
6 min read
Kimberly Robinson speaks at the kickoff event for the new Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Va., on Oct. 16, 2023.
Kimberly Robinson speaks at the kickoff event for the new Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Va., on Oct. 16, 2023.
Julia Davis, University of Virginia School of Law
Federal Q&A Miguel Cardona: There's No 'Magic Strategy' to Help Students Get Back on Track
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he's focused on supporting schools on work they're already doing to help students achieve.
8 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at the Department of Education on Sept. 20, 2023 in Washington.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at the Department of Education on Sept. 20, 2023, in Washington. In an interview with Education Week, Cardona said "there hasn’t been another president in our lifetime that has spoken so much on providing dollars for education but also having education be central to the growth of this country."
Mark Schiefelbein/AP