Republican campaign leaders on Tuesday auctioned off a ChapStick used by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — and scored $100,000 from winner Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Taking a break from their urgent strategy meeting about the debt ceiling, GOP lawmakers bidded for the stick of cherry lip balm once used by their caucus leader.
Greene won the honors by making the six-figure offer after McCarthy agreed to toss in a meet-and-greet with her donors.
“My constituents will be honored to host a visit with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who we all think is doing a great job,” Greene, R-Ga., said in a statement.
The cash will go to the National Republican Congressional Campaign committee, which works to elect GOP lawmakers across the nation.
The lawmakers spent 15 minutes on the odd auction before returning to a debate about how to handle the debt talks.
Some of them questioned whether the U.S. government would really run out of cash soon after June 1 as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said, casting doubt on their appetite for any compromise with the White House.
Democrats mocked the tone-deaf exercise, which came as GOP lawmakers push the nation to the brink of default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling without punishing cuts to social programs.
“Spending $100,000 on ChapStick while working overtime to gut the programs that working families rely on. GOP priorities in a nutshell,” Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velazquez said.
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