Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, proposed legislation Thursday to “fully defund” Dr. Anthony Fauci and ban COVID-19 “vaccine passports.”
Ms. Greene detailed her two proposals — the “Fire Fauci Act” and the “We Will Not Comply Act” — during a morning interview while railing against Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, over his handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic under both President Biden and his predecessor.
“Dr. Fauci has been running the show in this country, and that is not his role,” the first-year congresswoman said to Republican strategist Stephen K. Bannon during an appearance on his “War Room: Pandemic” podcast.
“He is not supposed to run our country,” Ms. Greene continued. “Dr. Fauci has been running our country, and he hasn’t been running it, he has been shutting it down with his ever-changing advice.”
In addition to leading the NIAID since 1984, Dr. Fauci served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force under former President Trump and is currently the chief medical adviser to Mr. Biden.
Those roles have given Dr. Fauci a powerful voice in both the Trump and Biden administrations with respect to how the federal government has gone about fighting COVID-19, the disease the virus causes.
Ms. Greene claimed Dr. Fauci was accordingly to blame for businesses and schools across the U.S. having to close their doors to customers and students, respectively, amid the continuing health crisis.
“Everything is wrong, and it’s due to Dr. Fauci. We’ve got to fire this man, and we’ve got to move forward,” Ms. Greene said on the show.
“It’s very easy,” Ms. Greene explained later. “You block all federal funding for his paycheck. That’s how you fire Fauci.”
Ms. Greene announced on social media shortly after speaking with Mr. Bannon, a former Trump adviser, that she has officially introduced both legislative proposals in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Posting on Twitter, Ms. Greene’s office said her “We Will Not Comply Act” would prevent business from discriminating against people based on whether or not they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Specifically, Ms. Greene’s office said the bill was offered to address concerns about so-called “vaccine passports” that could potentially be required by private businesses.
Airline companies and public universities would be prohibited from refusing people who have not been vaccinated under the bill, she said.
The congresswoman’s office said her bill would allow people to sue “if a person has been discriminated against on the basis of their vaccination status or mask compliance.”
Public health officials recommend that people cover their noses and mouths while in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a highly contagious respiratory disease that has killed millions globally.
More than one-third of U.S. adults have been vaccinated against COVID-19 since December.
Ms. Greene “doesn’t see a reason” to personally receive the COVID-19 vaccine, her spokesman said earlier this week.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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