Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie is no Liz Cheney, despite what President Donald Trump says.
The latest congressional budget battle has triggered a feud between the two, highlighting a problem the leadership of neither party seems interested in tackling: spending.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR), to avoid an end-of-the-week government shutdown. The vote was 217-213, and the only Republican to vote against it was Massie. House Speaker Mike Johnson, aided by massive Trump support, even convinced members of the Freedom Caucus to get on board. House Freedom Caucus members have created many headaches in previous years for Republicans who’ve never met a spending package they don’t like.
If the current CR passes the Senate and Trump signs it, it would keep funding the government at the current levels set last year by the Biden administration until September.
Has Trump Met His Match in Massie?
Before the vote, Trump attacked Massie, calling him a grandstander for his opposition. He suggested Massie should be primaried and even compared him to neocon Liz Cheney, who was ousted from Congress after numerous attacks from Trump.
But Massie and Cheney are very different people. For starters, her role in the January 6 Committee is suspected of being downright criminal. Cheney was the epitome of a faux conservative. The biggest difference between Massie and her is that one adheres to the U.S. Constitution while the other didn’t.
During her five years in the House, Cheney earned a dismal 57-percent lifetime score in the The New American’s Freedom Index. Her votes aligned with the U.S. Constitution just a little more than half of the time she voted. Her record includes votes supporting reckless spending, international organizations such as NATO, sending American taxpayer money to Ukraine, and even gun-control laws. In 2022, she voted for the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” which included red flag laws.
Massie, by comparison, has earned a 99-percent lifetime score during his 12 years in the House. He has largely voted against reckless spending, against Ukraine aide, against American military interventionism, and even to terminate the Department of Education.
Cheney and Massie are not the same.
Regarding Trump’s attempt to encourage a primary challenger to oust the headstrong Kentuckian, the latter’s response was essentially, “Go ahead and try.” He tweeted:
Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me. Three times I’ve had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me. None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance.
Republican Support for Massie
Trump’s attack on Massie hasn’t landed as well for the president as others have. Utah Senator Mike Lee, another constitutionally obedient legislator — he has a 94-percent lifetime Freedom Index score — gave Massie the benefit of the doubt. He tweeted:
I have nothing but profound respect for Massie, who has worked harder than perhaps any member of Congress to bring federal spending under control. He might vote differently on this matter than most, but if he does so, he’ll have a really good reason. I’m a huge fan.
Senator Rand Paul, a fellow Kentuckian, has sided with Massie’s position as well. On Monday, he tweeted:
Despite @DOGE ’s findings of loony left-wing USAID programs, the Republican spending bill continues to fund the very foreign aid @elonmusk proposes to cut! The bill continues spending at the inflated pandemic levels and will add $2T to the debt this year. Count me as a hell no!
And speaking of the Pauls, among Massie’s supporters former Congressman Ron Paul, a man who has been warning about America’s impending fiscal cliff for years and who reads economics books before bedtime. Dr. Paul recently reminded people that this isn’t the first time Trump has attacked Massie for his principled stance — and it wouldn’t be the first time Trump has been on the wrong side of an argument. Paul tweeted:
Massie Explains Opposition to Latest Funding Bill
Before casting his nay vote on Tuesday, Massie recorded a video explaining his position.
He said Republicans weren’t keeping earlier promises to be the party of fiscal responsibility. In the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) that passed in 2023 under former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the deal was that fiscal conservatives would agree to raise or suspend the debt limit if a guaranteed one-percent cut on any continuing resolution spending measure that goes past April 30 would be put into law. “I voted for this,” Massie said. However, he added, the CR that just cleared the House extends beyond April 30 all the way to September 30, meaning a one-percent cut should be triggered. But that’s not happening.
Massie said that Speaker Johnson’s lawyers dismissed the cut by treating this CR as 12 appropriations bills, or an omnibus. In other words, Johnson’s office is denying the bill is a CR and calling it an omnibus so it won’t trigger any cuts. “That’s pretty disingenuous if you ask me,” Massie said.
He also defended himself against accusations that he voted for reckless spending in the past. He said he voted to raise the debt ceiling two years ago because it came with cuts.
As far as what he wants to see, Massie favors a spending bill that would trigger eight-percent cuts on everything. He said the House should be drafting 12 separate bills.
Stop the Perpetual Spending
Massie also addressed the politics at play that provide excuses for perpetual reckless spending. He said Trump is pushing this because he doesn’t want a government shutdown on his watch. However, Republicans have always come up with a reason to keep spending. In September 2024, Massie pointed out, Republicans held back a budget fight so it wouldn’t negatively impact Trump’s chances of winning the presidency. Then in December, the excuse to not fight for fiscal responsibility was that the new Congress needed to be sworn in. And now, Massie added, the excuse is there isn’t enough time to do the right thing, but come September, the GOP will finally get serious about spending.
But Massie is not sure if Republicans will ever shape up. He said:
The closer you get to the election, the less spine these people have. I don’t see the fight coming. I hope there is a fight to cut spending. I just don’t see it. We’re our own worst enemy here in the Republican party.
Trump has made previous comments indicating that he doesn’t see the nation’s $36 trillion debt as a major problem. He has also indicated that his approach to eliminating the debt is to create an economy strong enough to cover expenses and eliminate debt.
The New American’s parent organization, The John Birch Society, advocates a sure-fire solution to our nation’s debt problem: Congress should abolish every federal program and agency not permitted under the U.S. Constitution. That would eliminate more than half of the federal government and the expenses that come with it. Moreover, that would, in many cases, rid us of the onerous regulations that prevent Americans from being productive and generating more revenue. And perhaps best of all — just when you thought it can’t get better — eliminating a majority of the current federal government is a great way to prevent liberty-infringing edicts.
