Congressman accepts private-sector job, says he will remain in Congress indefinitely

Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, before the start of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on January 10, 2024 (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Congressman Mark Green (R-TN) announced that he has accepted a job with a private firm and will retire from Congress. But not right now.

"It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress," Green said in a press release. "Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up." Despite his new job with an undisclosed employer, Green said that he will remain in Congress until "the House votes once again on the reconciliation package."

Legal ethics experts told Popular Information that the situation is "unprecedented" and presents a minefield of ethical issues.

The reconciliation bill is an enormous piece of legislation that will deliver massive tax cuts to the top 0.1%, slash social safety net programs like Medicaid, and provide billions in new funding for the military and immigration enforcement. A version of the bill passed the House on May 22 on a vote of 215-214.

The bill is now under consideration by the Senate, where substantial changes are expected. Although the bill passed the House by the narrowest of margins in May, securing House approval of the legislation after the Senate's modifications will be even more challenging.

President Trump and Republicans desperately need Green's vote. Although Green hails from a reliably conservative district, under Tennessee law, Green's retirement will result in a vacancy that will last several months. So Green, one of Trump's most loyal allies in Congress, is sticking around indefinitely. No one knows when — or if — the House will have an opportunity to vote on a Senate-approved reconciliation bill.

Green's unusual announcement appears to be an end run around House ethics rules. Under those rules, members of Congress are prohibited from earning more than $33,285 from outside employment. The reason for this restriction is simple: it is a conflict for a member of Congress to receive a large percentage of their earned income from an outside source. It raises reasonable questions about whether a member of Congress is voting in the best interest of their constituents or representing the interests of their employer.

Here, Green has finalized an agreement with an unidentified private firm for an undisclosed amount of money. But it's a safe bet that, based on Green's description of the offer as "too exciting to pass up," the compensation is many multiples of his Congressional salary. And yet, Green will stay in office specifically so he can cast a vote on what is likely the most consequential piece of legislation in Trump's term.

Donald Sherman, the Chief Counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told Popular Information that Green's announcement was an "unprecedented scenario" with a high likelihood of a "disqualifying conflict of interest." Sherman explained that, since Green has not disclosed the name of his future employer, it is "impossible for the Congressman's constituents" to determine whether there is a conflict. The likelihood of a conflict is high, Sherman believes, because the reconciliation bill impacts virtually "every industry."

Craig Holman, an advocate with the ethics watchdog Public Citizen, called Green's delayed retirement "an obvious conflict." Holman noted that Green is required to report any conversations about potential future employment to the House Ethics Committee. The rule exists because even conversations about future employment can create conflicts of interest. But it is unclear if Green ever notified the House Ethics Committee. That's because members of the House Ethics Committee have chosen not to publicly release those notifications, which makes them essentially worthless.

Green's controversial past

Green’s ethically dubious exit from Congress follows a career marked by scandal and controversy.

In April 2017, Trump appointed Green, a medical doctor and Iraq War veteran, to be secretary of the Army after Trump’s first choice withdrew his nomination over concerns about his business entanglements. Soon after Green’s nomination, he was ensnared in controversy when previous statements he made about Muslims, LGBTQ people, and Latinos emerged.

At the center of the controversy was a video of Green speaking to the Chattanooga Tea Party in 2016. When asked about the increasing number of Latino voters in Tennessee, Green said they were “being bussed here probably.” He also called the audience to “take a stand on the indoctrination of Islam in our public schools” and referred to Constantinople being sacked by a “Muslim horde” in the 15th century. Green agreed with an audience member who said that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Finally, he claimed that physicians agree that being transgender is a “disease” and said that by allowing transgender servicemembers, the military had “tolerated immorality.”

After Green’s nomination, an appearance on a right-wing talk show also surfaced in which he said that letting transgender people use bathrooms that match their gender identity would lead to more women being sexually assaulted and that the government exists to “crush evil.”

Uproar over his comments eventually led to Green withdrawing his nomination to be secretary of the Army in May 2017. But his political career was not over. In November 2018, he was elected to replace Marsha Blackburn in Congress when she was elected to the Senate.

During his congressional campaign, another video emerged in which Green said that Americans should rely on God, not the government, for help and that social welfare programs, such as Medicaid, “[interrupt] the opportunity for people to come to a saving knowledge of who God is."

Shortly after his election, Green told constituents he wanted to investigate already debunked claims that vaccines cause autism. "Let me say this about autism," he said. "I have committed to people in my community, up in Montgomery County, to stand on the CDC’s desk and get the real data on vaccines. Because there is some concern that the rise in autism is the result of the preservatives that are in our vaccines.”

In September 2024, Green’s wife of 35 years accused him of an extramarital affair with a young woman in Washington. She said that Green, who had recently filed for divorce, was leaving her and their two children to start a new family with this woman at the same time that he had been leading a Bible study in their home.