Free Republic

Congressman Thomas Massie has proposed repealing the controversial federal ban on guns within a thousand feet of a school. From cnsnews.com: Massie said the solution to school shootings is putting more than one armed guard at school or allowing teachers to be armed, adding that “98 percent of mass public shootings happen in a gun free zone.” “And we’ve labeled all of our schools as gun free zones. We need to take those labels off, and put our kids in that two percent category of being safe, instead of being in that 98 percent vulnerable category,” he said. Massie...

Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who leads the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, and Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is one of the Senate's most persistent gun controllers, do not agree on much. But the congressman and the senator both see the folly of the National Rifle Association's position on bump stocks, the firearm accessories that Stephen Paddock used in his deadly October 1 attack on country music fans in Las Vegas. The NRA opposes a legislative ban on bump stocks but wants the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to reconsider the question of whether they are legal....

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul reintroduced his Federal Reserve Transparency Act, widely known as the “Audit the Fed” bill, to prevent the Federal Reserve from concealing vital information on its operations from Congress. Eight cosponsors joined Senator Paul on the legislation. Representative Thomas Massie (KY-4) has introduced companion legislation, H.R. 24, in the U.S. House. “The U.S. House has responded to the American people by passing Audit the Fed multiple times, and President-elect Trump has stated his support for an audit. Let’s send him the bill this Congress.”

Every election cycle, U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie said he is “extorted” by the Republican Party to pay $300,000 for his committee assignments. “I call it extortion, they call it assessments,” he said. These “assessments,” essentially dues to the Republican party, are fundraised through political action committees and lobbyists as a price to pay for committee positions, Massie told a crowd of about 25 during a recent coffee and pizza forum in Flatwoods. He told them, “I can’t go and do a fundraiser and raise $300,000 and stand up in front of people and tell them, ‘Well, you know what? It’s...

You can add Rand Paul to the list of Republicans who say they’ll support Donald Trump if he ends up being the GOP nominee. Paul made his pledge on Friday during a stop in Northern Kentucky. Via Cincinnati Enquirer: Paul, during a visit to Northern Kentucky Friday morning, said he will support whoever is the Republican nominee, even if it’s Donald Trump. He said it’s better than supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton.Paul criticized Clinton’s comments she made while campaigning in Ohio that she will “put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business.” Those words will likely reverberate...

Representative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said that the resignation of House Speaker Representative Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) “was almost inevitable, given the pressure that the American people have put on Washington, DC” on Friday’s “Sean Hannity Show.”

Twenty-five Republicans rebelled against John Boehner (R-Ohio), who won a third term as Speaker on Tuesday. The 25 Republicans, including three freshmen, didn't coalesce around a single alternative candidate. Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), whose nomination for Speaker became public just minutes before the vote, attracted the most votes at 12. Meanwhile, the other two long-shot candidates, Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) only received three and two votes each. Additionally, freshman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) voted "present" rather than voting for anyone. And two Republican lawmakers voted for people who aren't even members of the House: Rep. Gary...

Conservative blogger Erick Erickson is hoping the momentum of the Donald Trump presidential campaign can lead to the overthrow of House Speaker John Boehner. Erickson recounted on his blog Wednesday that despite the effort by conservative House members like Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Steve King (R-Iowa), Boehner was reinstated as Speaker by a slim margin of victory in January. He credited Boehner’s victory to his ironclad agreement to conservatives that he would fight “tooth and nail” against President Obama’s executive amnesty on the Department of Homeland Security. Boehner broke that promise and funded DHS with barely...

Breitbart News sat down with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)91% (R-KY-4th Dist.) earlier this week, and he explained that he put forth a rider to a Department of Justice appropriations bill to block the ATF “from banning common rifle ammunition” out of concern that “Obama’s swan song is gun control by executive order.” On June 3, Breitbart News had reported that GOP representatives were adding riders to the bill to deny funding and block the DOJ and ATF from following through on backdoor gun controls under consideration at the time. Massie now explains:

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) issued a statement on Saturday detailing why he’s going to vote against House Speaker John Boehner’s re-election on Tuesday. Massie, who’s entering his second term as a member from Kentucky, now becomes the second Republican House member announcing the coming rebellion against Boehner. Massie joins Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) in the fight for fresh leadership, and in his statement he detailed how Boehner and his leadership actually have misled members of the House GOP conference. “For years I watched Washington from afar and suspected that something was broken. Why is it that so many people approve...

[Ky.]Republican gubernatorial primary candidate James Comer announced the endorsement of a prominent tea party figure in U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Vanceburg who represents the geographically diverse 4th Congressional district Wednesday. Massie has not endorsed in other GOP primary contests, including U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 bid for re-election against primary contender Matt Bevin. “James Comer is my choice for Kentucky’s next Governor because he exhibits the leadership qualities that our Commonwealth needs,” Massie said in a statement. “I’ve seen him in the halls of Congress advocating effectively on behalf of Kentucky’s farmers and entrepreneurs. I’ve watched him restore trust...

The cromnibus had an unlikely savior Thursday afternoon in the form of a lame-duck lawmaker who used to raise reindeer. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), who lost his primary earlier this year, was originally among the conservative Republicans who voted against the rule. Without the help of Democrats, Republicans could only lose 17 of their own to pass the rule, which sets up floor debate for the underlying "cromnibus" spending bill. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) intervened once there were 18 Republican defectors — and not a single Democrat voting "yes." Many Democrats will vote against the government spending measure because they...

Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, who recently questioned ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber about a paper he wrote which discussed how the government had saved billions of dollars by targeting abortion to the poor, is calling the paper creepy and based in eugenics. Thomas Massie Gruber Nemesis In a December 9, 2014 hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, about enrollment issues with the Affordable Care Act, Jonathan Gruber, a former consultant and adviser during the lawÂ’s creation, apologized for comments he made in which he called voters stupid and said the controversial law was passed because voters did not...

A pro-life Republican congressman grilled the architect of Obamacare today and questioned him over statements he made essentially saying that poor people need abortions in order to save money. gruber2Gruber once argued that abortion has helped improve our nation’s economy and social environment. In a paper he helped write in May 1997 for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Gruber and two fellow writers suggested that abortion has helped save the nation money and social woes. Here is one of their must infuriating excerpts: We find evidence of sizeable positive selection: the average living circumstances of cohorts of children born...

The lower Manhattan skyline featuring the ill-fated Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1992 [AP] A secret 9/11 history exists - one that the few who know it say names at least one foreign country that provided support to some of the 19 hijackers on their murderous mission 13-years ago on Thursday. Twenty-eight pages from an official 2002 report detailing foreign-government assistance to the September 11 attackers remain classified. Determined 9/11 family members and sympathetic congressmen are pushing hard, however, for the long-awaited release of the missing history of one of the United States' greatest tragedies. The controversial...

Over the weekend, both the Senate and the House approved $225M in funding for the Iron Dome. The bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a 395 to 8 vote. Opposition to the funding of the Iron Dome demonstarted an unfortunate bi-partisan measure – four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it. The four Democrats were Keith Ellison (MN-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Beto O’Rourke (TX-16); The four Republicans were Justin Amash (MI-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), Tom Massie (KY-04), and Mark Sanford (SC-01). Rep. Ellison explains vote on “Meet the Press”: “Because a ceasefire...

You may recall that on Friday, in what would have been a Christmas Miracle were it not several months early, Congress actually got something done. It was the passage of a bill approving $225M in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive missile system. It was quite the bipartisan effort in retrospect, garnering an overwhelming 395 votes in the House with only eight in opposition. One of those eight was Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and as The Corner reports, he went out on the weekend gab circuit to explain why he didn’t support the measure. “Because a cease-fire is what we...

Updated 6:37 p.m. | Sen. Ted Cruz gathered a group of House conservatives in his office Tuesday night, talking about immigration and House GOP leadership elections slated for after the midterm elections. As CQ Roll Call first reported last October, Cruz held a secret meeting with members at Tortilla Coast during the height of the government shutdown drama. Many of these same Republicans are the agitators who aren’t happy with Speaker John A. Boehner. The Texas Republican gathered roughly 10 members of the GOP Conference at 8 p.m. Tuesday for a 90-minute session that included candy bars, crackers and soda....

Congressman Thomas Massie (Republican–KY), Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (Democrat –ME) and a bipartisan coalition of 18 other lawmakers have introduced legislation to improve consumer food choices, including access to raw milk, and to protect local farmers from federal interference. The two bills – the Milk Freedom of Act of 2014 and the Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014 – are the first in Massie’s series of “food freedom” bills he plans to introduce. Massie has a unique perspective: “As a producer of grass-fed beef, I am familiar with some of the difficulties small farmers face when marketing fresh food directly to...

Steve Stockman (Texas, 36th District) has responded to Ted Cruz’ challenge to House Republicans by filing a 19 point resolution to defund ObamaCare. Mr. Steve Stockman is not afraid of a fight. “I applaud the dozen Republican Senators who sent a letter to Majority Leader Reid explaining they will not vote for any continuing resolution that funds ObamaCare. But as Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have said, ‘The House must refuse to fund Obamacare’ because every appropriations bill originates in the House and the House is the only chamber that Republicans control. My resolution includes 19 whereas statements that...