Representative Thomas Massie speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing on the Fiscal Responsibility Act.drives a Tesla with a “friends of coal” vanity plate and walks around Capitol Hill wearing an electronic debt clock on his lapel that constantly updates the sum owed by the federal government. And, on Tuesday, the fate of the entire global economy was in his hands.
Norman and Roy thought not. They were not just opposed to the bill but spoke to the press shortly before the hearing to express their opposition. They did not do this faintly or with caveats. Roy proclaimed to the crowd of reporters that “the Republican conference has been torn asunder” by the agreement reached by McCarthy and President Biden to raise the debt ceiling for the next two years in exchange for spending cuts far smaller than what House Republicans proposed in a bill last month.
With that the photographers left, the room emptied, and the drama for the moment left. After all, Massie may be quirky, but he’s definitely not squishy. Later that night, he told me But, that just wasn’t the vibe. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, a McCarthy ally, said that “a majority of the people who have concerns with the deal that they’re working through will admit they have tremendous respect for Speaker McCarthy and for his negotiating.” In his view, all the chaos to get McCarthy the gavel had somehow made this easier.