By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
U.S. Congressional Representative Thomas Massie paid a visit to the Kenton County Mayors’ Group Saturday morning, giving an update on things he is working on and asking for any questions.
Massie began by telling a story about Gene Snyder, who, when he was a Congressman, got a call at his home from a constituent, a lady who said her trash wasn’t picked up. Snyder told her he was a U.S. Congressman, and that was not something they dealt with, and asked if she had contacted her local commissioner. She said no, she didn’t want to start that high up.
Massie said he has great respect for what the local communities have to deal with on an everyday basis, and he wanted to touch base with the mayors.
He reported how he had helped the CVG airport modernize communication because he has been on the Aviation Sub-Committee. Previously air traffic controllers would have to tell the pilots over the radio if their coordinates changed or the way they were supposed to fly changed and the pilots had to type them in inside the plane on a little keyboard. There is a system that allows the air traffic controllers to text the pilots directly, and that system was already installed, and the government had already paid for it. Massie said it was supposed to be turned on, but until they threatened a congressional hearing, the system was suddenly operational.
“The most exciting news I have for you today is that I got to 218 signatures on a thing called a discharge petition,” he stated. “It can be really hard to get a bill to the floor. There is a shortcut, and it has only been used 20 times in the history of this country. You have to get 218 of the 435 members of Congress to walk to the floor of the House and sign their name to this piece of paper in front of the CSpan cameras. If you can do this, you can skip the committee of jurisdiction, you can skip the Speaker of the House, and you can bring the bill straight to the floor.”
He acknowledged that the speaker of the house does not like when the shortcut happens, because everyone knows he is the gatekeeper, and he will lose control of that bill.
“I got 218 votes on a bill to force the release of the Epstein papers,” Massie stated. “and I know that for mayors and council members this may not be the most important issue, but I think everyone would agree that just because you are a billionaire, or you know somebody, it doesn’t make you immune to the law. I thought it was important to get these papers released.”
He stated that there are many people who have not been prosecuted or convicted about this issue. Massie said that as soon as he got the signatures, the speaker, who was initially opposing him, decided they should pass the bill by unanimous consent, because there is no record. He said he would have taken the unanimous consent route, but one problem is that Hakeem Jeffries would have had to agree, and that was not likely. The second problem is that if they would pass it by discharge petition, as soon as everyone agreed, the bill indicates that it has to be immediately sent to the Senate, and if it is unanimous consent, the speaker can hold it as long as he wants, so the bill could die.
“So next week, hopefully, there won’t be any monkey business, and we will have a recorded vote on that,” he said.
Massie invited the group to ask questions, and Jeannine Bell from Crescent Springs asked about the people who are running hateful ads against him.
“I vote with my party 91 percent of the time,” Massie said. “I am almost ashamed to tell you I’m that compliant. They are mad at me for the nine percent I don’t vote with them.”
He said they depend on rubber stamps and he doesn’t want to be a rubber stamp. He told the group he would rather go back and live at the farm than to be a rubber stamp and not vote for what he thinks is right.
Another question was asked about the fact that the President recently announced possible investigations into other organizations and banks and their ties to the Epstein matter, and if those go forward would that slow down his progression with his bill.
“If there is an ongoing active investigation, it might interfere with the investigations to release the files, and they might not release them,” Massie said.
Kenton County Emergency Management Director Steve Hensley asked if he could handle cases of identity mix ups, because he had a friend who has the same name as a person in jail in another state, and it is interfering with his social security and insurance.
Massie said sometimes he comes across cases like that, but his office handles them on a case by case basis.
He did address the shut down, and he said before January, it would be a good idea for Congress to put certain items in permanently funded status, like Air Control, and SNAP and the military so they won’t hold things like air control hostage. He said right now 3/12 of the government is permanently funded for a year, but 9/12 of the government will be up for a fight in January.
Massie stayed around for the remainder of the meeting.
The next mayors’ meeting will be the second Saturday in December instead of the third Saturday due to the holidays.