Article from Reason by Christian Britschgi.

Libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) is catching flak from all sides of the partisan divide for insisting that Congress hold an actual vote before approving $19.1 billion in federal disaster aid.

On Tuesday, Massie objected to passing a massive disaster relief package by unanimous consent during a brief pro forma session being held while most members of Congress are out of town for a Memorial Day recess.

“If the Speaker of the House felt this was must-pass legislation, the Speaker of the House should have called a vote on this bill before sending every member of Congress on recess for ten days,” said Massie on the House floor, adding later on Twitter that “passing an unbudgeted $19 billion spending bill without a vote of Congress is legislative malpractice.”

Massie’s objection came a few days after Rep. Chip Roy (R–Texas) did the same thing, opposing the bill over both process concerns and its lack of $4.5 billion in border funding.

The delay had produced bipartisan irritation.

Read the entire article at Reason.

Image Credit: By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America (Thomas Massie Uploaded by AlbertHerring) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons