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President Trump blasted a Kentucky Republican who may delay the $2 trillion economic stimulus vote Friday, saying the “third-rate grandstander” should be banished from the GOP.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian-minded Republican, is against the massive stimulus bill to help the coronavirus-ravaged economy and has threatened to force a roll-call vote on the package in the House, infuriating lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who say traveling to the Capitol en masse to vote for a widely supported bill poses an unnecessary health and safety risk.
“Throw Massie out of Republican Party!” Trump said at the end of a double-tweet tirade against the Kentucky pol.
“He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous & costly. Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive,” Trump said.
Thursday night and Friday morning, furious lawmakers flocked back to the Capitol — which has already been rocked by the virus with several lawmakers testing positive for COVID-19 — because leadership was made aware that Massie may not go along with a planned voice vote that would require just a skeleton group of lawmakers to be present.
Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., was livid he had to leave the epicenter state of the U.S. outbreak.
“Because of one member of Congress refusing to allow emergency action, entire Congress must be called back to vote in House,” King tweeted. “Risk of infection and risk of legislation being delayed. Disgraceful. Irresponsible.”
Massie, who is against the bill, did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment.
But in a radio interview Thursday, Massie said the Constitution calls for a quorum to vote in the House and he had little sympathy for House members having to come back, especially after the Senate managed to pass the legislation through a normal recorded vote.
“I’m having a really hard time with this. Because they’re saying, well it’s hard to travel, yadda yadda yadda,” Massie told radio station 55KRC Thursday.
“Well, last night, 96 out of 100 Senators voted. All we would need is 218 out of 435 to vote,” he added, pointing to a section of Article I in the U.S. Constitution that states “a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business.”
He suggested a way members can come back to the Capitol: “Hitch a ride with a trucker,” Massie said.
Fox Business Network’s Hillary Vaughn contributed to this report.
