President Donald Trump wants to see voters oust Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY.
The 47th president made this wish clear to reporters on Tuesday during a trip to Capitol Hill to coalesce House Republican support for his tax and immigration bill known as the “big beautiful bill.”
During the visit, one reporter asked Trump whether he agreed with Massie, who on X suggested that the bill’s passage would result in bigger deficits and “Biden levels of spending.”
“No, I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he’s a grandstander frankly. We don’t even talk to him much,” Trump said. “I think he should be voted out of office. And I just don’t think he understands government. If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer. He just says, ‘I’m a no.’ He thinks he’s going to get publicity.”
The bill Trump wants to see passed features major components of the president’s agenda, including the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, $50 billion to renew construction of Trump’s border wall and a committed $150 billion in defense spending to be used for shipbuilding and a missile defense system Trump calls “The Golden Dome,” according to ABC News.
The bill also tightens eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) with adults aged 55-64 and children facing additional work requirements to qualify for benefits, ABC News reports.
In a Monday post on X, Massie claimed that Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would add $20 trillion of federal debt over 10 years. “But there’s another huge problem: it will increase the price of the $36 trillion of debt we already have, as bond buyers realize we aren’t fiscally responsible.”
Despite Trump’s meeting with Republicans, in which he urged them to stick together and pass the bill, Massie is still a no, according to Politico.
Republicans have a majority of 220 seats in the House of Representatives, with 213 Democrats. They can only afford three Republican “no” votes, assuming all Democrats also vote against the bill.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week it was “absolutely essential” for the Republicans to unite and pass the bill, saying, “there is no time to waste.”
