Thomas Massie: Speaker Johnson ‘Misled’ Republicans to Believe They Are Powerless Against Biden

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Monday wrote that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has “misled” Republicans to believe they are powerless against President Joe Biden, citing a story from the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Massie told the story of once having breakfast with Scalia and 18 other lawmakers at the Capitol Hill Club, a social club for Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) at the Capitol in Washington on May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

During the meeting, Republicans were dismayed that then-Speaker John Boehner had “convinced” lawmakers that Republicans did not have enough power to combat an unaccountable Barack Obama administration.

In this November 6, 2014, file photo Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Massie said that Scalia admonished House Republicans for hoping the Supreme Court would rein in the Obama administration. He explained:

Scalia finished his breakfast and began to speak. He started by saying that being a referee between us and the executive branch was not his job. He explained that his job as a jurist was to determine if there was harm and what the remedy might be.

Occasionally, constitutionality of a law was a question, but only as a side effect of Scalia’s job, which was to determine if someone had been harmed and what the remedy was. He was adamant that his job was not to referee disagreements between the executive & the legislature.

Scalia then admonished us for asking him to fix any perceived imbalance, because after all he said, “Yours is the most powerful branch, and the tools you need are right there in the Constitution.” /*paraphrasing from memory*/

One of my colleagues, a former representative from Arizona, complained to Scalia that impeachment was too unwieldy, impractical, and prone to political blowback. Scalia said sternly, “I’m not talking about impeachment…”

Scalia continued, “You have the power of the purse. You fund everything you complain about. Quit funding it and the President won’t be able to do it.” Most of my colleagues were dumbfounded. Boehner had convinced them the executive was too powerful for us.

“I wanted to cheer,” Massie remarked.

The Kentucky Republican said that House Republicans are in a similar situation today because Johnson has convinced them that the GOP can do little to stop the Biden administration with a small GOP majority.

Massie, along with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), have sponsored a motion to vacate the chair, which would remove Johnson as Speaker.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks at a news conference alongside Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) at the U.S. Capitol Building on May 01, 2024 in Washington, DC. During the news conference Greene announced she would move forward with her motion to vacate U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

He said, “My colleagues, misled by our Speaker, tell you we are powerless against Biden. They say we must win the White House or pray for the Supreme Court to save us. This is untrue.”

Massie added, “What we need is a new Speaker willing to use our majority to wield the power of the purse for the benefit of America. In just a few months, this Speaker has worked to give the Executive more authority and more money than even Pelosi granted. Vacate this #uniparty Speaker.”

Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.