President Donald Trump wants to kick him out of the Republican Party, but Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said history will look on him more fondly than Friday's hysteria.
"I was able to make them come to work, but I couldn't make them work," Massie told Fox News' "Cavuto Live" on Saturday. "Because, ultimately, even though they got a quorom there, they did something I've never seen in eight years: They refused to take a recorded vote.
"And that tells you what this was all about, they're all trying to dodge accountability."
He delayed nothing, he said, and was merely calling on the House lawmakers to do their job and record a vote and put their name on the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill being passed. In fact, Massie sent a message to Trump's team, saying his actions delayed nothing in the passage of the relief for Americans and businesses.
"I don't think I should be thrown out the Republican Party," Massie told host Neil Cavuto."I represent the planks of the Republican platform more faithfully than any other Republican, virtually than any other Republican in Washington, D.C."
Democrats, Republicans, and the president chewed him up for forcing House lawmakers to Washington, D.C., amid the global coronavirus pandemic, but allowing bills to be passed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi via voice vote sets a very dangerous precedent, Massie said.
"In fact, the WHIP team sent out an email and told people, 'you can stay home, we'll just pass this by a voice vote,'" Massie said. "And that's when I jumped in a car and drove to D.C., because it's not constitutional to do any legislative business without at least half of the members of Congress present.
"And I also thought, if we're going to pass the biggest spending bill in the history of mankind that people should go on record for this."
Massie said he spoke with the president about what he was going to do, and his actions earlier in the week forced House members to get to D.C., for a quorom Friday morning.
"All of the congressmen expect the truckers go to work, they expect the grocery store baggers to go to work, they expect the UPS guy to bring their Amazon packages, but they don't think that they should have to go to work," Massie said. "I have a problem with that. If this is truly a national emergency, and you're being paid $174,000 a year to work, and you haven't been to work in 10 days, I think you can go to work for this."
Pelosi is plotting a Phase IV coronavirus stimulus bill already, Massie said, and he wanted to make sure that one does not squeeze in more liberal agenda items without GOP fiscal scrutiny.
Ultimately, in an election year, Republicans are going to be on the hook for passing this coronavirus stimulus package with no questions asked, while they have for years – if not decades – refuses to commit this kind of spending for universal healthcare. Democrats have gotten Republicans to accept a level of "this is worth it" massive spending bill, after maintaining Medicare for All is unaffordable.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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