Tail. Thomas MassieR-Ky., no longer sits on the powerful House Rules Committee after being the only Republican to vote against Speaker Mike Johnson in the House leadership election.
The Rules Committee decides which bills will come to the House of Representatives for a vote. Massie, a hard-line libertarian, said he would voluntarily step down from the panel after opposing Johnson for speaker on the grounds that Johnson was relying on Democratic support to pass the big spending bill.
But Massie’s uncompromising stance has often isolated him from the rest of the GOP conference. One Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital, “98% of the conference wanted Massie removed from the rule.”
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Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Massie’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Representative Republican Conference they met behind closed doors Tuesday morning and voted on a new board list. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, succeeded Massie on the Rules Committee.
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House Judiciary Committee members Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., listen to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s testimony before the committee in the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill on June 4, 2024 in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Additionally, Rep. Virginia Foxx, RN.C., former chairwoman of the Education and Workforce Committee, will lead the panel following the retirement of Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., the House Republican deputy, was also removed from the committee and replaced by freshman Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga.
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Massie ran against Mike Johnson for re-election as Speaker of the House of Representatives. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Massie was first appointed to the Rules Committee along with Rep. Chip RoyR-Texas, and Rep. Ralph Norman, RS.C., as part of a deal with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January 2023 to expand conservative representation — part of a broader compromise for McCarthy to win his short-lived House speakership.
The House Rules Committee is the last stop for bills before a vote in the full House. The committee and its chairman are responsible for dictating the terms of debate on the bill and which amendments, if any, will also receive a vote.
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Once a bill passes the House Rules Committee, it is subject to a “rules vote” by the full House to allow for debate on the bill before a vote on final passage.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
