President Donald Trump on Friday called for ousting from the Republican Party a GOP congressman who has signaled that he could hold up an impending House vote on the Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus emergency relief package.
“Looks like a third rate Grandstander named @RepThomasMassie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
House Republican leadership has been concerned that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) will move to demand a recorded tally as opposed to a voice vote on the historic stimulus measure, throwing a last-minute hurdle in the legislation’s path to the president’s desk.
The threat has forced dozens, if not hundreds, of lawmakers to return to Washington from their home districts, navigating across interstates and through airports at a time when public health officials have urged Americans to avoid nonessential travel and large groups.
“He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous … & costly,” Trump tweeted of Massie. “Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn’t their fault. It is ‘HELL’ dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the ‘big picture’ done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!”
In another message, the president sought to target Massie’s status as chairman of the conservative House Second Amendment Caucus, writing: “By empowering the Radical Left Democrats, do nothing Kentucky politician @RepThomasMassie is making their War on the 2nd Amendment more and more difficult to win (But don’t worry, we will win anyway!). He is a disaster for America, and for the Great State of Kentucky!”
Massie reached out to Trump, but it is not clear whether they connected, according to two sources.
POLITICO previously reported that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) had been in contact with Massie, and that the White House was aware of the potential obstacle he posed to the package’s final passage.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that the House would vote Friday on the legislation, sending lawmakers scrambling back to the Capitol after they were previously told they would have at least 24 hours’ notice if they needed to return.
Any single member could complicate the proceedings on Friday by objecting on the grounds that there isn’t a quorum — in this case, 216 lawmakers — in the chamber, or by demanding roll call vote, an option opposed by Democratic and Republican congressional leadership. But even if Massie forces a recorded vote, the bill is expected to pass with broad bipartisan support.
Massie, who drove from Kentucky to be in Washington for the vote, on Thursday tweeted ominously an image of the Constitution’s clause having to do with quorums in chambers of Congress. He also described the package as “not a good deal” and suggested it was the result of dubious legislative maneuvering.
“They’re trying to convince us it should be a voice vote, it shouldn’t be recorded. And I’m struggling with this,” Massie told a Cincinnati radio station. As of late Thursday night, senior aides in both parties said they were unsure what he would do.
Although Massie has broken with Trump on other high-profile votes in Congress, the libertarian congressman’s new feud with the president marks a major fracture in his campaign to win Trump’s support amid a competitive Republican primary for his House seat in June.
When Trump visited his Mar-a-Lago resort for Super Bowl weekend last month, Massie purchased TV advertising time in South Florida on Fox News to air an attack ad branding his GOP challenger as a “Trump hater.”
Jake Sherman contributed to this report.
