Corrected 8:19 p.m. | Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who said Tuesday he would cast a key vote in the House Rules Committee to advance a bipartisan debt limit package to the House floor, was an unlikely supporter for controversial legislation backed by a party leader.
Support from Massie, who joined the panel earlier this year as part of an agreement with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, appeared to keep lawmakers’ efforts to avoid a debt default as soon as June 5 on track. Massie’s opposition, along with that of two other conservatives added to the panel after the prolonged battle in January to pick a speaker, could have derailed the measure.
“My interest in being on this committee was not to imprint my ideology. I think that is an inappropriate use of the Rules Committee,” Massie said Tuesday afternoon as the committee considered the agreement reached by McCarthy and President Joe Biden over the weekend. “I anticipate voting for this rule and when people want to express their ideology, the floor of the House on the actual final passage of the bill is the place to do that.”
