Rep. Thomas Massie Prevents House Skeleton Crew from Passing Legislation during Recess
Tuesday May 28, 2019
You may think that the United States House of Representatives only passes legislation while in session when members have an opportunity to vote. Not so. On Tuesday, a small group of representatives on the House floor, while most representatives were far afield on recess, sought to quickly approve a 19 billion dollars disaster relief bill and a two-week extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. They would have succeeded, but for the fact that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) objected on the House floor, preventing the legislation from being approved.
Speaking briefly on the House floor to make his objection to passing the disaster relief bill without a recorded vote of House members, Massie stated: “If the speaker of this House felt that this was must-pass legislation, the speaker of this House should have called a vote on this bill before sending every member of Congress on recess for ten days.”
While Massie’s action may just delay by a few days the House approving the legislation, his action can help ensure that the House meets its obligation of being a deliberative body in which all members, instead of a select subset of members, can vote on whether legislation is approved.
Massie is a member of the Ron Paul Institute’s Advisory Board.
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