Massie Not On Board with Speaker Johnson’s Spending Bill, Vows to ‘Vote Against’ It

Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) is vowing to vote against House Speaker Mike Johnson’s “clean” continuing resolution (CR) that seeks to fund the government in 2025 at the same levels as in 2024.

This is not the first time that Massie has found himself opposing GOP leadership on fiscal grounds but the stakes are high as Congress seeks to pass a CR to fund government operations beyond March 14.

Massie spelled out the reasons why he plans to break with House leadership in a post yesterday on X.

I’ll vote against a clean CR that funds everything in 2025 at 2024 levels because:

1. @SpeakerJohnson isn’t following the provision in law that would have cut everything by 1% if the CR extended past April.

2. We should not fund the waste, fraud, and abuse that Doge has found.…

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 4, 2025

Massie says that Speaker Johnson isn’t following the provision in law that would have cut spending by 1% if the CR were to extend beyond April.

The Kentucky Congressman also cited an unwillingness to fund the waste, fraud and abuse that has been uncovered by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts and the fact that there were suppose to be 12 separate funding bills to encourage transparency.

Massie also is standing firm on the fact that Congress was told that the CR passed in December that funded the federal government through March 14 would allow the prioritizing of President Trump’s agenda via the checkbook.

Speaker Johnson told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday:

We’re looking to pass a clean CR to freeze funding at current levels [and] to make sure that the government can stay open while we begin to incorporate all these savings that we’re finding through the DOGE effort, and these other sources of revenue that President Trump’s policies are bringing the table.

Following President Trump’s State of the Union address last night, Massie called out what he sees as hypocritical behavior among GOP members of Congress who applaud the efforts of DOGE, yet are willing to turn around and fund many of the same wasteful and fraudulent programs in the coming CR.

Congress just stood up and applauded DOGE for exposed wasteful and fraudulent programs that Congress itself funded… and plans to fund in the coming CR.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 5, 2025

Massie is not the lone voice of Republican dissent, as Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX) also promised to vote against the measure, saying, “I am a NO on the CR. Congress needs to do its job and pass a conservative budget! CR’s are code for Continued Rubberstamp of fraud, waste, and abuse.”