Crockett says she appreciates Greene’s stand on potential rising health care premiums, but the praise stops there.
By Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett had something nice to say about her GOP colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Crockett said she appreciates Greene, R-Ga., for “sounding the alarm” about the looming health insurance premium hikes that could affect millions of Americans.
“She’s telling the truth. It’s not a conspiracy theory,” Crockett said during a joint interview Thursday with The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV (NBC 5). “It may have taken her own sons before she could see the light, but nevertheless, she sees the light, and I appreciate it. I appreciate that she’s not just seeing it in private, but she is ringing the alarm.
“Health care, it’s a nonpartisan thing, so the fact that she is speaking out against them, they’re not happy, but she’s telling the truth for once, and I have to give credit where credit is due,” Crockett said.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Greene has said her party’s leadership is not prioritizing issues that mattered to average Americans, including her “adult children” and the constituents in her northwest Georgia district.
If Congress doesn’t act, enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits will expire at the end of the year and raise insurance rates for millions of Americans. Democrats say the Affordable Care Act premium tax credit issue must be resolved as a condition for their votes to reopen the government. Republicans want a straight extension and House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t bring the House back into session until Senate Democrats approve a stopgap measure.
“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” Greene wrote on X. “No I’m not towing the party line on this, or playing loyalty games. I’m a Republican and won’t vote for illegals to have any tax payer funded healthcare or benefits.”
Greene added: “I’m AMERICA ONLY!!!”
Mike Stewart / AP
Crockett said other Republicans should follow Greene’s lead.
“I encourage others to have that much courage, because the numbers are clear,” Crockett said. “The vast majority of the people that are going to be most detrimentally impacted are in Republican districts.”
Crockett and Greene are fierce adversaries. And their disdain for each other has created viral moments, including a 2024 House Oversight Committee meeting where insults ranged from not being able to see through “fake eyelashes” and a reference to a “bleach-blond, bad-built butch body.”
When asked if it was possible to join forces with Greene to bring a resolution to the issue — and perhaps the shutdown, Crockett was dubious.
“I don’t know about that,” Crockett said. “I don’t know that our parties are that interested in listening to either one of us, if I’m honest, but, I do think that it is telling about some of the pressures that may be bubbling up.”
Part of Crockett’s interview will appear Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on Lone Star Politics, a political show produced byKXAS-TV (NBC 5)and The Dallas Morning News.
The Howard University graduate and Chicago native has covered four presidential campaigns and written extensively about local, state and national politics. Before The News, he was a reporter at The Kansas City Star and The Chicago Defender. You can catch Gromer every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NBC 5’s Lone Star Politics.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
