Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who threw the House vote on the $2 trillion stimulus package into a brief chaos, was already so much of a disrupter he had the nickname ‘Mr. No.’
Elected to Congress via a special election in 2012, in the nearly eight years he’s served in the body, Massie has gone-it-alone on a number of votes and doled out some memorable quotes.
Massie’s stunt on Friday made President Trump and John Kerry, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top House Republican Kevin McCarthy, bipartisan allies.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, briefly held up the House vote Friday on the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package. He already was so much of a disrupter on Capitol Hill he earned himself the nickname ‘Mr. No’
Right out of the gate Massie ruffled feathers.
As a new Congress started in 2013, Massie voted against Rep. John Boehner’s bid to remain in the House Speaker’s chair, choosing Rep. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, instead.
Amash has since abandoned the Republican Party and now is the only independent member serving in the body.
Massie also voted against Rep. Paul Ryan becoming House Speaker, who would become Boehner’s successor. In 2019, he voted against McCarthy as well, though Pelosi ultimately got the job.
Early on Massie also objected to naming Israel a strategic partner – arguing that the bill supported green energy industries in Israel.
He also voted against further sanctions on North Korea.
He forced a roll call vote on a bill that would give golfer Jack Nicklaus a gold star, objecting when the House tried to pass it by voice vote.
Massie’s objecting to the House trying to use a voice vote to pass the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
House leadership wanted to deploy this tactic in order to allow fewer members of the House to return to Washington amid the coronavirus outbreak – especially since several lawmakers have now tested positive for the virus.
Massie suggested doing such a thing would violate the Constitution.
He’s described himself as a ‘Constitutional conservative’ who favors smaller government.
In 2017, he introduced legislation that would kill off the Department of Energy and also the Environmental Protection Agency.
Like many of his GOP peers he’s voiced skepticism of global warming.
That’s where he and former Secretary of State John Kerry got into it.
In April 2019, after the Democrats won back the House of Representatives, Kerry was called in as a witness to the House Oversight Committee to discuss climate change.
Kerry had called President Trump’s closed-door group on climate change a ‘kangaroo court’ of experts, a comment that bristled Massie.
‘Isn’t it true you have a science degree from Yale?’ Massie asked Kerry, who explained he had a bachelor of arts degree.
‘Is it a political science degree?’ Massie then asked, to which Kerry replied in the affirmative.
‘So how do you get a bachelor of arts in a science?’ Massie asked.
Kerry replied that political science is a liberal arts degree.
‘OK, so it’s not really science. So I think it’s somewhat inappropraite that somebody with a pseudoscience degree is here pushing pseudoscience in front of our committee today.’
Kerry couldn’t believe it.
”Are you serious? I mean, this is really… happening here?’ the ex-secretary of state and longtime senator responded, later adding, ‘This is not a serious conversation.’
On Friday, Kerry went to war with Massie again for potentially holding up the House vote for days.
In reality, Massie’s request for a voice vote only delayed passage by a matter of minutes.
‘Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an a**hole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity. He’s given new meaning to the term #Masshole,’ wrote Kerry, who previously represented Massachusetts in the Senate. ‘(Finally, something the president and I can agree on!)’
President Trump soon chimed in giving a thumbs up to Kerry’s tweet.
‘Never knew John Kerry had such a good sense of humor! Very impressed!’ the president wrote after suggesting earlier that GOP lawmakers ‘throw Massie out of Republican Party!’