Marjorie Taylor Greene swipes at Matt Gaetz over Kevin McCarthy speaker vote and declares herself 'the leading MAGA voice in Congress'

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dismissed Rep. Matt Gaetz after he praised her for her committee spots.
• Greene swiped at Gaetz over his role in the House speaker battle.
• Greene called herself "the leading MAGA voice in Congress."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday rejected praise from fellow Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz for her new committee assignments and instead criticized him over the days-long House speaker battle to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.

Gaetz commended Greene after she landed seats on the Homeland Security Committee and Oversight Committee, having previously been stripped of serving on congressional panels two years ago over her past inflammatory statements and promotion of conspiracy theories.

"She's going to do amazing work for the people on these key committees she has EARNED," Gaetz tweeted Wednesday.

He then quoted a line from a blog post that read, Greene is "back on committee assignments now that Republicans have retaken the House and the Rep. Gaetz-led revolt has put some steel in McCarthy's spine."

But Greene dismissed Gaetz's congratulations and instead thanked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for placing her on the committees she requested. She also slammed Gaetz over the House speaker vote. He was among 20 House Republicans who repeatedly voted against electing McCarthy for the top post when the 118th Congress kicked off on January 3. The process dragged over four days and took 15 ballots until McCarthy won the gavel.

"Too bad we're weeks behind after you spent a week only getting MTV from 5 to 1," Greene responded to Gaetz on Twitter, referencing negotiations that took place during the speaker battle about a rule that would allow one lawmaker rather than five to initiate a vote to oust the speaker, otherwise known as a "motion to vacate."

Greene, a second-term Georgia Republican, went on to declare herself "the leading MAGA voice in Congress."

"I look forward to committees," she tweeted on Wednesday. In the last Congress, House Democrats, joined by 11 House Republicans, voted to remove Greene from her committee posts.

Gaetz quickly replied to Greene's tweet, writing "we got a few other things," but lowering the the motion to vacate threshold was "totally worth it!"

He also continued to applaud Greene. "We the People will be in better hands with MTG holding the corrupt Biden Admin accountable via committee service. I'm so here for it," Gaetz wrote.

Still, Greene fired back at Gaetz.

"The rules package did not change at all from Jan 1st to Jan 6th, except MTV went from 5 to 1," she wrote on Twitter. "Literally anyone can read them online and see that. All substantial negotiations happened in conference & 5 families meetings before the 15 ballots starting on Jan 3rd."

Besides the motion-to-vacate rule, McCarthy made additional concessions to win over the 20 GOP holdouts during the speaker battle, including that some lawmakers of the far-right faction were reportedly promised key committee spots. Gaetz ultimately voted "present" on the final speaker ballot.

Greene became a high-profile McCarthy ally during the speaker vote, rallying behind him in a rare break from members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, including Gaetz. But Greene and Gaetz have often worked on the same side of issues, for example, appearing publicly together at news conferences on Capitol Hill, discussing matters ranging from the January 6, 2021 riot to Ukraine aid.

Yet despite their division on the speaker vote, Greene and Gaetz were seen seated next to each other and laughing together in the House chamber that week. Spokespeople for Greene and Gaetz did not immediately return Insider's requests for comment.