Posted on 03/30/2020 6:55:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
For a while last week, Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the most hated man on Capitol Hill. His sin? He tried to prevent a “voice vote” whereby none of his colleagues would have gone on the record. He wanted his fellow members of Congress to have to formally cast their votes for or against the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus stimulus bill, which is the largest spending bill in history.
Politicians complained that his “stunt” would delay the bill and put the health of members of Congress in danger.
The bill wasn’t delayed by holding the vote. Massie had warned his colleagues a day before the vote so that enough congressmen had time to get back for the vote. There were enough members present for a quorum and a recorded vote. Votes typically take an entire 15 minutes.
By demanding a quorum, Massie forced more than half of the House of Representatives to be present for the vote. If members were really so concerned for their health, they could have practiced social distancing. It may have taken fifteen minutes longer, but votes could easily have been staggered. The Congressmen could also have worn gloves and facemasks and avoided touching their faces.
“These people need to do their jobs,” Massie told reporters after the bill passed by voice vote on Friday. “If they are telling people to drive a truck, if they are telling people to bag groceries, and grow their food, then by golly they can be there, and they can vote. . . . The truth, if you are willing to report it, is that they didn’t want a recorded vote.”
For four hours, hundreds of members of Congress made speeches about the bill from the House floor. But they apparently didn’t have time to vote. Either that or the politicians who loaded the bill with wasteful spending weren’t proud to vote for it.
If everyone was so concerned about getting this passed quickly, Democratic leaders sure had a strange way of showing it. There was no similar outcry against Speaker Nancy Pelosi for delaying the House vote until a day-and-a-half after passage in the Senate. Democrats had already slowed down the Senate bill by nearly a week, thanks to demanding items that would further their agenda on carbon emissions, abortion, and voter laws.
Todd McMurtry, Massie’s opponent in the June 23rd congressional primary in Kentucky, wasted no time putting out ads claiming that “Massie has opposed Donald Trump from the start.” The tag line reads, “Support President Trump, Dump Thomas Massie.” Massie has voted with Trump over 80 percent of the time during the current 116th Congress.
But McMurtry has written on Facebook: “Trump would never be my choice,” “I hope that the military disobeys his order to attack and stages a coup,” and “Trump is an idiot.” Back in 2016, McMurtry posted, “I hate to say that Hillary is right, but he is temperamentally unqualified to be President.”
Before McMurtry declared his candidacy, he scrubbed his social media to remove his negative comments about Trump. Unfortunately for him, the record is still out there.
Massie is a friend of mine, so I am biased. He is chair of the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, and I have written six opinion pieces with him on topics such as the dangers of gun-free zones and national reciprocity for permitted concealed handguns.
If I was a member of Congress, I don’t know how I would have voted on the massive $2.2 trillion spending bill. People need help, through no fault of their own. If the government closes down businesses, the government has a responsibility to help people out. But it makes no sense to provide unemployment insurance that pays people more for not working than they would have made at work. The huge payments to Democratic Party interest groups also make the bill hard to swallow.
But a tough vote doesn’t absolve politicians from having to make those difficult decisions. Representatives should have gone on the record.
The anger against Massie has nothing to do with delaying much-needed help for Americans. It has nothing to do with the safety of congressmen. Those present could have voted. The vitriol directed against Massie tells us that politicians were afraid to vote for this bill. We need leaders like Massie, who had the guts to stand by his principles.
Massie’s desire to get everyone on the record was well-intended, but it was pointless to attempt it at this moment in time. That said, not happy about Trump throwing him under the bus, especially if the reports about Massie being instrumental at getting the ballot harvesting nonsense out of the bill is true.
He was doing his job just as the President was doing his.
Childish name calling by the President of a genuine, sensible conservative was not necessary or smart. It diminished not Massie, but Trump.
There were weeks of delay while pork was added to the bill.
Nancy Pelosi delayed the bill for a day for study. A simple bill could have been passed in minutes.
I suppose you would have us do away with the Electoral College as well? How many other Constitutional provisions would you have us ignore while we are in crisis?
I thought Massie made the wrong move for the right reasons. It was ultimately pointless in that it didn’t get the votes recorded, and really came off as a poorly-planned charade.
Zero, Genius.
The operative phrase in Washington is: “never let a perfectly good crisis go to waste.”
The corollary of that is: “every crisis is great opportunity to rob America blind.”
Massie is the ONLY one of 435 Congressman and 100 Senators who seemed to question these obvious facts. We are SOOOOO screwed!
Nancy was in Hawaii on vacation. Massie did the right thing. Squeeze them on planes to DC and do their jobs somebody needs to support the Kennedy Center programs.Congress should be the audience.
The Constitution requires a quorum for any business to be conducted. Art. 1 Sec. 5
Thanks for posting this. Massie wanted to do the right thing. Too few politicians care about that anymore.
I understand that. What’s that thing about the Constitution not being a suicide note or something like that? It’s a matter of small men intoxicated by the aroma of their own farts.
“....really came off as a poorly-planned charade.”
No. The media and the liberals, with the help of the stupid conservatives, fed the public it was a hoax. And a lot of people bought into it that way.
He tried to force the house to publicly show their vote on the topic per each individual. But the house tossed him under the bus to protect their reputation as, so called, leaders. He’s a casualty, not a charlatan.
rwood
Where was Massie when Paul Ryan was throwing the House to Pelosi? AWOL like the rest of them. Don’t be duped by Massie’s self promotion. He’s playing his part in the beltway theater. That is all.
There should be a requirement that any time a bill is passed that involves any sort of funding, a recorded vote must be taken.
The voice vote allows congress-critters cover for voting for pork-laden bills, and removes accountability to the constituent.
Far too often, panic bills allow them to be loaded up with crap that has nothing to do with what is supposed to be happening.
Another thing that is needed is any time there is a “panic bill,” is the Presidential Line Item veto, where President Trump COULD HAVE vetoed the $25 million going to the Kennedy Center, which just a few hours after being announced, furloughed it’s workers. So the administrative portion of the KC is funded by the emergency bill, but the employess are not.
Mark
Mark
He was 100% correct in Principle, but all he accomplished Politically is taking the blame off the Rats for their Leftist motivated five day delay of Legislation which is “perceived” as being implemented to help the American People.
Now they can blame the GOP (for the 43 Second Delay) in getting the Bill passed.
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