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House Republican leaders struggled to an extraordinary degree to even begin debate on a defense spending bill, but after multiple efforts, that measure is now under consideration. That might not seem especially notable, but ahead of an eventual vote, members are also considering amendments to the legislation.
And that’s where we find the interesting part.
Thanks to the GOP majority, the spending bill for the military has already been changed to prohibit the Pentagon from implementing climate-related policies from the White House, and removing funding for the Defense Department’s office of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
But as The New York Times noted, there was one other amendment that stood out as notable.
The Republican-led House voted on Wednesday to reduce the salary of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III to $1, as right-wing lawmakers tried to transform a Pentagon spending bill and a series of other funding measures into weapons to take aim at President Biden, his agenda and his top officials.
To be sure, there’s no reason to believe the nation’s first Black defense secretary will have to work for an annual salary of $1, but as the Times’ report added, the measure, championed by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, “reflected the intensity of the right-wing drive to make the military into a political issue.”
It also comes against a backdrop of a GOP effort to impeach Austin, though I’ve struggled to keep up with why, exactly, Republicans have made the cabinet secretary a target of such partisan ire.
At this point, you might be wondering who supported and opposed the amendment to lower Austin’s salary to $1, but there was no roll-call vote: Greene’s measure was approved by voice vote, so there is no record reflecting individual members’ preferences.
As for why Democrats didn’t do more to defeat this absurdity, it’s worth noting the broader tactical considerations: The House Democratic minority doesn’t much care if the Republican majority makes its spending bill even more outlandish because it will create even greater challenges for GOP members from competitive districts once it’s time to vote, up or down, on final passage.
So, where does this leave us? The House is working on trying to advance four appropriations bills, including the defense spending bill, before the weekend. There’s no reason to assume any of the four will pass, but with the government shutdown deadline in mind, it doesn’t much matter either way: Even if the appropriations bills were to somehow clear the lower chamber, they’d be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate and Democratic White House.
Or put another way, these theatrics amount to little more than a tantrum that does little more than make the House GOP majority look even more extreme.
It’s among the reasons Austin probably isn’t too worried about a dramatic pay cut.