House Speaker Mike Johson (R-LA) might have a hard time retaining his position if Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of his most vocal critics, has anything to say about it.
Massie recently told The Hill that he would not back Johnson for Speaker next time around due to a series of issues.
He said his refusal to support Johnson was because of “all the grievances I had this summer, when we tried to vacate. And then this bill,” referring to the current debate over the 1,547-page continuing resolution that the speaker and other lawmakers are trying to pass to avoid a government shutdown.
Massie’s vote could be critical in determining whether Johnson holds on to the gavel.
Johnson is facing a slim Republican majority in the 119th Congress and can’t afford to lose Massie’s support, although the threshold for victory can lower if members vote “present” or are absent.
However, the Kentucky representative’s dissenting vote could still jeopardize Johnson’s path to leadership with previous GOP seats vacated by President-elect Trump’s appointments.
Democrats are likely to propel House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to the post with 215 votes, leaving Johnson to scrabble for an overreaching three votes to secure the support of the 218 members required to win the position, assuming every representative is present.
Rep. Massie is known for his aggressive opposition to measures that would expand the size of government while increasing spending. On Tuesday, he wrote a post on X with video footage showing him predicting the current fight over spending.
People call me “NostraThomas” for accurately predicting @SpeakerJohnson would use the Christmas recess to force a massive spending bill through Congress.
After claiming he would not, Johnson is embracing a D.C. tradition that’s nearly as old as decorating Christmas trees.
Back in September, Massie complained about Congress continuing to pass resolutions they don’t bother to read simply to stop the government from shutting down. During a House Committee on Rules hearing, he said this keeps happening because “no one can stand to cut spending.”
When Congress sought to pass the SAVE Act, which was aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting, in June, the lawmaker predicted that it would be used as leverage to pass the continuing resolution but would later be removed from the legislation.
He was right.
“I said there would be some drama with the bright shiny object called the SAVE Act. I said that was going to get stripped off and you’re going to get a clean CR,” he said, further explaining that “because it’s the same reason we always have December 20th … it’s five days from Christmas and four days rom Christmas Eve and you desperately want to be there with your family.”
But one does not need to be “NostraThomas” to predict this, right? This happens every single year. Politicians and their close friends and allies in the media work everyone up into a blind hysteria about the prospect of the government shutting down, which prompts them to demand action from their lawmakers. Unfortunately, that action always involves increasing spending and expanding the size and scope of government – a scenario few in Congress seek to prevent.
At this point, lawmakers on both sides know how easy it is to play us by scaring the public into supporting whatever pork-bloated bill Congress comes up with because, as Massie points out, people are too frightened at the notion that the government might take some more time off.
It’s the epitome of Chicken Little politics, which relies on making us believe the sky will fall if Congress doesn’t continue spending like a sailor who has bathed in a vat of Jack Daniels for weeks on end.
In fact, I’ll predict it right now: This will happen again next year around this time and then the year after that. Indeed, I can continue accurately making this prediction in perpetuity until the day comes when we have more folks like Massie in office.