Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), who often promotes unfounded conspiracy theories and has been supportive of ideas espoused by the QAnon movement, has introduced a pair of bills in the House related to the COVID-19 pandemic this week, one of which targets Dr. Anthony Fauci, current director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Nicknamed the “Fire Fauci” Act, the bill, H.R. 2316, would reduce the NIAID director’s salary to $0 annually. It would remain at that rate until a new individual could replace Fauci as director of that agency, Greene has said.
In promoting her bill, the Republican congresswoman also suggested that Fauci’s successor should require Senate approval. However, the director of NIAID is not a Senate-approved position.
Fauci has served as NIAID director since 1984, and has kept that role across seven different presidential administrations. He is also chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. In spite of Fauci’s track record and his prescient analysis and guidance to Americans regarding the coronavirus pandemic, Greene has expressed contempt for him, lobbing unfounded attacks on his assessments.
“The ‘#FireFauci Act’ will slash the salary of Dr. Always Wrong to $0,” Greene tweeted on Thursday.
A press release from Greene attached to that tweet claimed the bill would “cite numerous findings about Dr. Fauci’s evolving and contradictory advice on COVID-19,” though neither the tweet nor the press release included any examples of Fauci’s supposed wrongdoings.
Attacks on Fauci from Republicans are not new. Indeed, members of the White House during former President Donald Trump’s tenure attempted to discredit Fauci last summer. However, any attempts to remove him are overwhelmingly likely to fail. The bill Greene is proposing is exceedingly unlikely to go anywhere in the Democratic-led House. Fauci is well-regarded by a number of political figures and has also received high approval ratings from the public over the course of the pandemic.
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