Marjorie Taylor Greene Warns DOGE Subcommittee May Defund Sanctuary Cities

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said on Sunday that, as the incoming chair of a House Oversight subcommittee that is set to work with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), sanctuary states and cities could lose their funding.

Earlier this week, Representative James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chair of the House Oversight Committee, announced that Greene would head the new subcommittee, which will be named the Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee.

In that role, Greene is expected to work closely with billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who were selected by Trump to lead DOGE to “eliminate government waste.”

Greene, a vocal Trump ally, who pushes for a restrictive immigration policy, discussed her priorities as the incoming chair during an appearance on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

When host Bartiromo asked where she sees the most government waste, Greene responded, “It’s all over—every single government department, program, grant program, contracts, it is everywhere.”

The subcommittee is expected to investigate wasteful spending, examine ways to reorganize federal agencies to improve efficiency and identify solutions to eliminate bureaucratic red tape.

Greene said: “I’d like to talk to the governors of sanctuary states and the mayors of sanctuary cities and have them come before our committee and explain why they deserve federal dollars if they’re going to harbor illegal criminal aliens in their states and their cities.”

Newsweek has reached out to several governors of sanctuary states, including New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Colorado as well as the New York ACLU for comment via email on Sunday.

Immigration and border security were top issues during the 2024 presidential election. Trump won the election on a platform pledging to enact mass deportations, curb undocumented immigration, and reinforce the southern border.

Sanctuary cities and states protect undocumented immigrants from deportation or prosecution by federal agents, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers. There is no legal definition of a sanctuary city, but it refers to areas that limit assistance to federal immigration authorities. Like other cities and states, sanctuary jurisdictions receive federal funding.

There are hundreds of sanctuary jurisdictions of differing sizes across the country across 11 states, with each offering different specific protections. Prominent sanctuary cities include New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago and Boston.

During his first term, Trump attempted to withhold funding from sanctuary cities by signing an executive order that cut funding to them, but it was blocked by federal courts.

On Sunday, Bartiromo asked the congresswoman, “Are you saying that sanctuary states and cities will lose their funding?”

Greene replied: “If they use their police officers and their resources to harbor and protect illegal criminal aliens then absolutely those sanctuary states and cities are in danger of losing their federal funding, and rightfully so.”

During the interview, Greene also noted other areas of focus may be “government funded media programs like NPR [National Public Radio],” and “grant programs that fund things like sex apps in Malaysia, toilets in Africa.”

NPR’s website says it received less than 1 percent of its annual operating budget from federal funding, but its elimination “would result in fewer programs, less journalism— especially local journalism—and eventually the loss of public radio stations, particularly in rural and economically distressed communities.”

It is unclear what Greene is referring to in Malaysia, but her reference to toilets in Africa is possibly in reference to various global sanitation and water security grants supported by government agencies like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Outside of contracts and federal programs, the congresswoman also mentioned on Sunday firing government employees and getting rid of unused federal buildings.