Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) emerged as the lone Republican to vote against the continuing resolution passed by the House of Representatives. Massie called the issue a “fake fight” and said House Democrats were only voicing opposition to the bill because they knew it would pass anyway.
“They plan to pass it with all Republicans here in the House, but after we leave town, the Democrats are going to vote for it in the Senate,” he said in a video post shortly before the House vote.
Massie attacked the bill for continuing the spending levels of the Biden administration and for not implementing any cuts to waste found by the Department of Government Efficiency.
“This is not Trump’s agenda. This is Biden’s spending agenda,” he said. “The Biden spending levels that he enjoyed for the last 15 months of his presidency will now be locked in until September 30.”
Massie voted for the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which raised the debt limit with the condition that any future CR extending past April 30 would trigger a 1% cut in spending. He accused Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) of passing the CR as separate appropriations bills to circumvent the agreement.
Massie raises some good arguments, but his past voting record on some Trump policies may work to discredit him. He voted to stop President Donald Trump from declaring a state of emergency to appropriate money for the border wall in 2019. He also stalled on COVID-19 relief legislation in 2020, forcing an in-person vote and calling out the bill for inefficient spending measures.
“If getting us into $6 trillion more debt doesn’t matter, then why are we not getting $350 trillion more in debt so that we can give a check of $1 million to every person in the country,” he said in a social media post at the time. “This stimulus should go straight to the people rather than being funneled through banks and corporations like this bill is doing.”
Massie drew criticism from Trump, who called on other Republicans to challenge Massie in a primary race.
It is still possible that the CR will fail in the Senate. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he would vote against the bill, meaning Republicans need at least eight Democratic votes in favor of it.
“There’s nothing conservative about these spending levels,” Paul said.
Paul said he would propose amendments to add some DOGE foreign aid cuts to the spending bill.
“There’s a lot of great exposure of waste, but unless we can actually get Republicans in Congress to support the president, support Elon Musk, and vote to codify this into real legislation, the cuts become ephemeral and float away,” he said.
Although his arguments are similar to those of Massie, Paul has not yet been criticized by Trump on the issue.
Trump and Johnson want to avoid a government shutdown if they can. They appear willing to concede a delay in spending cuts to attain that goal. If that is the case, the Republican Congress should do its best to help Trump accomplish his goals.
DOGE NEEDS A SCALPEL, NOT AN AX
Massie raises strong arguments against the CR, but unfortunately for him, his objections came at a time when Republicans were rushing to reach a deal. Also, his reputation as one who has voted against Trump in the past may have hurt his credibility.
The top priority at the time was to get a deal on paper. Regardless of the fate of the CR in the Senate, Republicans should listen to Massie’s advice when deciding whether to cut spending in their next budget plan.