Rep. Thomas Massie is again lone ‘no’ vote on federal stop-gap spending plan
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie was one of two Republicans in the U.S. House to vote against a stopgap spending bill Friday, which would keep the government funded until November.
The bill is intended to avert a government shutdown, which would occur if the bill is not passed by Sep. 30.
A longtime deficit hawk, Massie said he voted against the bill because it does not cut spending.
It’s a copy-paste of Biden’s 2024 budget. It’s literally the exact same spending on the exact same line items, and it’s funding things that (the Department of Government Efficiency) cut, ironically,” Massie told the Herald-Leader.
The bill, pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, also has the support of President Donald Trump.
In the era of Trump, Massie has carved out a role as a dissenting voice within the GOP on many issues. Those include his opposition to Trump’s recent marquee budget bill, the administration’s actions in Iran and Israel and, most notably, the administration’s handling of files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has lashed out at Massie for his actions this year and members of his political team are seeking to unseat him in the 2026 GOP primary.
The four other Kentucky Republicans in the U.S. House — Reps. Andy Barr, James Comer, Brett Guthrie and Hal Rogers — voted for the stop-gap spending bill, which was pitched in part as a way to allow negotiations on more traditional appropriations bills to continue.
Included in those bills are more than $1 billion worth of projects that members of Congress are hoping to fund in Kentucky.
Rogers, a longtime member and former chair of the House Appropriations Committee, stressed in a news release that the House is working with the Senate to pass the traditional appropriations bills and this vote was a necessary step.
“We have worked diligently to sort through every single funding bill, hosting dozens of hearings, and addressing hundreds of amendments and requests for every sector of government spending through our work on the House Appropriations Committee,” Rogers wrote.
“As we finalize our work with the Senate, this continuing resolution keeps the government running for the American people.”
Kentucky’s lone Democrat in Washington, Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Louisville, joined Massie and most all of his Democratic colleagues in voting no.
Cherlynn Stevenson, a former Democratic state representative who is running for Congress in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District to replace Barr, who is running for U.S. Senate, made an issue of Barr’s vote.
She lamented that the bill did not extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which sought to make health insurance more accessible.
“Instead of reaching across the aisle to make health care more affordable, we saw the same sell-out Republican politicians shrug their shoulders and vote in the interests of their billionaire donors — again. Families across Central Kentucky deserve someone who is going to bring down the cost of living and put dollars back into their pockets,” Stevenson said.
The outcome in the House was largely expected. The Senate could be different. There, the bill needs 60 votes to pass. Discussions are ongoing within Democratic ranks on how to approach the bill — whether they should force a shutdown and seek concessions from the GOP or agree to keep funding the government.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM.
