Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) banged her gavel almost 50 times in an effort to silence Ranking Democratic member Melanie Stansbury (N.M.) during a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon.
The hearing, which focused on trans women in sports, devolved into heated crossfire between Democrats and Republicans on multiple occasions.
However, the hearing got especially intense when Stansbury began speaking over her allotted time, which led to Greene, who is chair of the subcommittee, to interrupt the Democratic member.
“The gentlelady’s time is expired,” Greene told Stansbury, who continued to speak over her.
When Stansbury accused Greene of going over a minute into her time, Greene fired back that Stansbury “wasted” a minute of her time “on a non-point of order” and attempted to recognize Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.).
Still, Stansbury refused to stop talking, which led Greene to bang her gavel repeatedly.
“Time was not wasted,” she said, with Greene still gaveling. “And to the trans community, we stand with you, with the LGBTQ+ community, we stand with you.”
“You can break my eardrums all you want, Madam Chair,” she added, speaking louder. “But we stand with the LGBTQ+ community and you can gavel me until the cows come home and it won’t stop it.”
“This hearing will come to order,” Greene said as she banged her gavel.
Once Stansbury was finished speaking, Greene recognized McClain and the hearing continued.
Stansbury emerged as a prominent figure throughout the hearing, even making a motion to immediately adjourn the hearing, arguing it was “irrelevant to this committee,” though the motion ultimately failed in the Republican-dominated committee.
However, when asked by Stansbury how USA Fencing pertained to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which the subcommittee falls under, Greene held up the committee rule book.
Republican senators have been growing increasingly concerned that Greene, who says she is looking seriously at either running for governor or for Senate in 2026, would hit major roadblocks in her general election race against vulnerable Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.).
While GOP senators acknowledge Greene would have a good shot at winning the nomination, they fear that the Republican firebrand, who has a knack for making headlines with controversial comments and generating enthusiasm from MAGA voters, would ultimately lose in the general election.
