GOP lawmaker wants to cut Karine Jean-Pierre’s salary to $1 for being “condescending to reporters”

Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) has introduced an amendment to lower out White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s salary to $1, saying that Jean-Pierre has a long record of “lies.” Many of the examples Tenney produced, though, weren’t lies and others weren’t even falsifiable statements that could be true or false.

The House of Representatives is currently trying to pass several large spending bills to avoid a shutdown of the federal government. But many House Republicans are using these bills for grandstanding, proposing amendments to lower Biden administration officials’ salaries to $1 to air their grievances against them. The amendments have almost no chance of becoming law; the Democratic Senate is unlikely to pass bills with such measures in them and President Joe Biden is unlikely to sign bills into law that contain blatant partisan attacks on his administration.

Related:

Marjorie Taylor Greene gets House GOP to cut Pete Buttigieg’s salary to $1 over his sexuality

Citing homophobic lies and false Facebook videos, Greene got her colleagues to vote to cut Buttigieg’s salary.

Tenney’s is the latest – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) went after out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier this week – and she’s trying to get her amendment attached to the bill to fund the Treasury Department and the White House in 2024.

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“During Ms. Jean-Pierre’s tenure as press secretary, she has repeatedly lied to the American people and acted in a condescending manner toward reporters, and also violated the Hatch Act,” Tenney claimed.

Tenney started listing Jean-Pierre’s alleged lies, which included saying that Jean-Pierre said “the 2016 election was stolen.” She was referring to a short tweet that Jean-Pierre wrote in December 2016 that said, “Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election …..welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump.”

“She also claimed that Biden’s stimulus bill did not impact inflation,” Tenney said. It’s unclear what statement from Jean-Pierre she is referring to. The press secretary has talked about inflation many times at many press conferences. The impact of the 2021 American Rescue Plan on inflation is a topic debated among economists.

“She also claimed that critical race theory – or its equivalent – isn’t being taught in our schools,” Tenney continued. Critical race theory is an academic field of study developed by Black law professors in the 1970s and is not being taught in grade schools.

Tenney’s claim that Jean-Pierre is “condescending” may be referring to the several times Jean-Pierre had to raise her voice as some reporters from conservative outlets talked over her or repeatedly interrupted her.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre has said:
– Illegal Immigration is down 90% under the Biden Admin
– Nobody is “just walking in” across the Southern Border
– The 2016 Election was stolen

It is time her salary is reduced to $1 for her LIES to the American people. pic.twitter.com/sG5vkjcoy6

— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) November 9, 2023

On X, Tenney posted more alleged “lies” from Jean-Pierre, including that she “failed to condemn pulling down flyers of kidnapped Israelis,” even though that’s not a statement that can be true or false.

She also included Jean-Pierre’s statement that Biden “has done more ‘than anybody else’ to secure the border,” as if Tenney was surprised that the White House press secretary would defend the president’s record on major policy issues.

The White House Press Secretary is paid to tell the truth, not spew partisan lies. American tax dollars should never go to funding an anti-Semitic LIAR.

Don't believe me?

The facts don't lie, but Karine Jean-Pierre does! pic.twitter.com/UjN3FGpSW8

— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) November 8, 2023

While Tenney didn’t bring up Jean-Pierre’s identity – like Greene did with Buttigieg – she has made anti-LGBTQ+ statements in the past. Last year she shared a doctored image of the house that supposedly belonged to the man who allegedly beat Paul Pelosi – the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (R-CA) – with a hammer. The picture of the house was photoshopped to include five white men in shorts with short haircuts – which is apparently what she thought gay men look like – holding oversized hammers in front of the house. The image was a reference to the right-wing myth that Paul Pelosi was secretly gay and got attacked by a lover.

“LOL,” she wrote when sharing the image.

She voted against the Respect for Marriage Act last year, claiming that the bill – which requires the federal and state governments to recognize marriages performed in other states if the Supreme Court overturns marriage equality – would be used to “target those with deeply held religious beliefs” and “faith-based organizations.”

Tenney voted for a bill to ban transgender students from participating in school sports, referring to transgender girls as “biological men” in a statement.

She also received a score of “0” on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard due to her solid opposition to LGBTQ+ equality.