Rep. Thomas Massie was one of only three Republicans to vote against an aid package to assist hurricane victims. A few hours later, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce called him a name in a tweet about his vote, and Massie responded.
The aid package passed the House in a 419-3 vote. Besides Massie, the NO votes were Justin Amash of Michigan and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
Massie’s spokesperson released this explanation of the No vote:
“With $20 trillion dollars of debt, and in the absence of a budget to guide spending, I believe that unscheduled spending should be offset by equal cuts elsewhere. This bill recklessly increases the national debt because it contains no spending offsets.”
The bill includes $7.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund and an additional $450 million for the Small Business Administration’s Disaster Loan Program. The Associated Press reports that the first installment in Harvey aid is to handle the immediate emergency needs and replenish Federal Emergency Management Agency reserves in advance of Hurricane Irma, which is barreling through the Caribbean toward Florida.
A few hours later, in response to Massie’s vote, the Twitter account of the Northern Kentucky Chamber posted a tweet calling Massie a vulgarity. Responding back to them, Massie tweeted this:
Well I’m not crazy about the bill either, but I don’t know if I would call it that. 😊#sassywithmassie pic.twitter.com/OfHvD4UwDY
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 6, 2017
The NKY Chamber tweet has since been deleted. Rep. Massie’s response is still up.
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