Massie removed from powerful House committee after vote against Johnson

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., no longer sits on the powerful House Rules Committee after he was the only Republican to vote against Speaker Mike Johnson in the House leadership election.

The Rules Committee holds sway over which bills make it to the House floor for a vote. Massie, a hardline libertarian, had said he would step aside from the panel voluntarily after he opposed Johnson for speaker on grounds that Johnson had relied on Democratic support to pass major spending bills.

But Massie’s uncompromising positions have often isolated him from the rest of the GOP conference. One Republican lawvmaker told Fox News Digital, “98% of the conference wanted Massie off rules.” 

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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 House Republican conference met behind closed doors Tuesday morning and voted for a new committee roster. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, has succeeded Massie on the Rules Committee. 

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House Judiciary Committee members Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., listen to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testify before the committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on June 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Additionally, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the former chairwoman of the Education and Workforce Committee, will lead the panel after Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, retired.

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., the House GOP deputy whip, was also removed from the committee and replaced by freshman Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga. 

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Massie opposed Mike Johnson for re-election as House speaker.  (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Massie was first appointed to the Rules Committee alongside Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., as part of a deal with ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January 2023 to expand conservative representation – a piece of a wider compromise for McCarthy to win his short-lived House speakership.

The House Rules Committee is the final stop for bills before a House-wide vote. The committee and its chair are responsible for dictating the terms of debate on a bill and what, if any, amendments will also get a vote.

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After a bill passes the House Rules Committee, it is then subject to a House-wide “rule vote” to allow for debate on the legislation before a vote on final passage.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.