Thomas Harold Massie was born on January 13,1971 and is an American politician, entrepreneur, and engineer.
95 Facts About Thomas Massie
2.
Thomas Massie founded a startup company based in Massachusetts, where he previously studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Thomas Massie has been described as a libertarian Republican and a member of the Tea Party movement, which backed his candidacy for Congress in 2012.
4.
Thomas Massie met his wife Rhonda at Lewis County High School in Vanceburg.
5.
Thomas Massie earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
6.
Thomas Massie participated in the MIT Solar Car Club, which took second place behind a Swiss team in the Solar and Electric 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway in 1991.
7.
In 1992, Thomas Massie won MIT's then-named 2.70 Design Competition.
8.
MIT professor Woodie Flowers, who pioneered the 2.70 contest, mentioned that Thomas Massie watched this contest on television in seventh grade and wanted to come to MIT to win it.
9.
Thomas Massie completed his bachelor's degree the same year and wrote his thesis, Design of a three-degree of Freedom force-reflecting haptic interface.
10.
In 1995, Thomas Massie won the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for inventors and the $10,000 David and Lindsay Morgenthaler Grand Prize in the sixth annual MIT $10K Entrepreneurial Business Plan Competition.
11.
Thomas Massie raised $32 million of venture capital, employed 70 people, and obtained 24 patents during his time at the company, which he sold in 2003.
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In 1996, Thomas Massie completed a master's of science degree with his thesis "Initial haptic explorations with the phantom: virtual touch through point interaction".
13.
In 2010, Thomas Massie ran for Judge Executive of Lewis County.
14.
Thomas Massie won the primary election, defeating the incumbent by a large margin, and then beat the Democratic nominee by nearly 40 points.
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Thomas Massie campaigned for then-US Senate candidate Rand Paul, speaking to various Tea Party groups on his behalf.
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Thomas Massie resigned as Lewis County Judge-Executive effective July 1,2012.
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Thomas Massie was endorsed by Senator Paul and Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
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Thomas Massie was endorsed by FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Gun Owners of America, and Young Americans for Liberty.
19.
On May 22,2012, Thomas Massie won the Republican nomination, beating his closest opponents, State Representative Alecia Webb-Edgington and Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore, by a double-digit margin.
20.
Thomas Massie faced Democratic nominee Bill Adkins in the general election, and was expected to win the election by a wide margin.
21.
Thomas Massie resigned as Lewis County Judge-Executive effective July 1,2012, to focus on his campaign for Congress and allow an election to be immediately held in order to replace him.
22.
Thomas Massie was succeeded by Deputy Lewis County Judge-Executive John Patrick Collins, who was appointed temporarily by Governor Steve Beshear.
23.
Thomas Massie was sworn in for the balance of Davis's term on November 13,2012.
24.
Thomas Massie thus gained two months' seniority on the rest of the 2012 House freshman class.
25.
Thomas Massie later became chair of the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, replacing outgoing chair Ben Quayle.
26.
Thomas Massie broke from the majority of his party by opposing the reelection of Speaker of the House John Boehner, instead casting his vote for Justin Amash of Michigan.
27.
In March 2014, Thomas Massie voted against a bill to name Israel an American strategic partner.
28.
Thomas Massie voted no because the bill would have subsidized green energy companies in Israel.
29.
Thomas Massie said he would not support subsidies for American green energy companies, let alone foreign ones.
30.
In May 2014, Thomas Massie objected to a voice vote to award golf star Jack Nicklaus a gold medal recognizing his "service to the nation", and demanded a roll call vote.
31.
In 2015, Thomas Massie was the sole member of the House to vote "present" on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the Iran nuclear agreement, citing Constitutional concerns that the treaties are not ratified by the House of Representatives and that he had no authority to vote for or against the nuclear deal.
32.
In 2017, Thomas Massie introduced a one-page bill that would abolish the United States Department of Education, and cosponsored a bill that would abolish the Environmental Protection Agency.
33.
On May 4,2017, Thomas Massie was the sole House member to vote against sanctions on North Korea.
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In July 2017, Thomas Massie joined Representatives Amash and John Duncan Jr.
35.
On December 29,2017, Thomas Massie voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
36.
In October 2018, Thomas Massie spoke at the John Birch Society's 60th anniversary celebration.
37.
Thomas Massie talked about government corruption and spoke out against the advisability of an Article V Convention to amend the Constitution.
38.
On March 26,2019, Thomas Massie was one of 14 Republicans to vote with all House Democrats to override Trump's veto of a measure unwinding Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border.
39.
In July 2019, Thomas Massie was the only Republican among 17 members of Congress to vote against a House resolution opposing efforts to boycott Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
40.
On November 20,2019, Thomas Massie was the sole "no" vote in Congress on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, which he called an "escalation" with the People's Republic of China.
41.
In September 2021, Thomas Massie was the only Republican to vote against $1 billion of funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.
42.
In May 2022, Thomas Massie was the only member of the House of Representatives to oppose a non-binding resolution denouncing antisemitism.
43.
Thomas Massie tweeted that he voted against the bill because it promoted censorship.
44.
Thomas Massie questioned why people such as grocery store employees or truck drivers should be expected to work during the pandemic, but not members of Congress, who "make $174,000 a year" and have "the best health care in the world".
45.
In July 2020, Thomas Massie argued against face mask mandates and compulsory vaccinations.
46.
Thomas Massie faced allegations of antisemitism after comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.
47.
On January 30,2022, Thomas Massie faced criticism for a Twitter attack on Anthony Fauci featuring a quote by neo-Nazi Kevin Alfred Strom, believing the quote to have originated from French writer and philosopher Voltaire.
48.
Thomas Massie has supported various efforts to scale back the use of the US military abroad.
49.
Thomas Massie supported legislation in 2019 to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001, arguing that it is too broad and that Congress should reclaim its constitutional right to declare war.
50.
Thomas Massie supported efforts to withdraw US forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, and introduced a bill in 2019 to clarify that no authority exists for military action against Iran.
51.
Thomas Massie introduced legislation to stop unauthorized military operations in Egypt and Syria, as well as legislation blocking unauthorized military aid from being sent to Syrian rebels.
52.
Thomas Massie voted "present" on the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, the only member of the House to do so and the only Republican not to vote against it.
53.
Thomas Massie was the only member of the House to vote against extending sanctions on Iran in 2016.
54.
Thomas Massie was one of only three House members to vote against a 2017 bill to impose new sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea.
55.
Thomas Massie joined eight Democratic representatives in 2021 in voting against $1 billion in funding for Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, saying that he opposed all foreign aid out of concern about the national debt.
56.
In 2019, Thomas Massie was the only member of Congress to oppose an act that refused to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.
57.
Thomas Massie was one of three members to oppose a March 2022 resolution supporting Ukraine's sovereignty after it was invaded by Russia.
58.
Thomas Massie later amplified Russian claims that Ukraine was developing biological weapons.
59.
Thomas Massie opposed a resolution in 2022 to support Sweden and Finland joining NATO, saying he did not want to "subsidize socialist Europe's defense".
60.
Thomas Massie was among 19 House Republicans to vote against the final passage of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
61.
Thomas Massie has said, "I think the jury is still out on the contribution of our activities to the change in the earth's climate".
62.
Thomas Massie voted to block the Department of Defense from spending on climate adaptation.
63.
Thomas Massie voted to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, which imposed stricter requirements on coal mining to prevent coal debris from getting into waterways.
64.
Thomas Massie is a critic of the PATRIOT Act and warrantless surveillance of Americans.
65.
In 2015 Thomas Massie introduced the Surveillance State Repeal Act, a bill that sought to repeal the PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act.
66.
Thomas Massie has called for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be pardoned and for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to be prosecuted for lying to Congress while under oath about the phone metadata program that Snowden exposed.
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Thomas Massie has introduced and supported legislation that eliminates certain gun control measures and expands American citizens' gun rights.
68.
Thomas Massie has criticized President Joe Biden's plans to regulate "ghost guns" by reclassifying gun kits as firearms under the Gun Control Act and requiring manufacturers to be licensed and inscribe serial numbers on gun kits.
69.
In 2014 Thomas Massie introduced the Milk Freedom Act and the Interstate Milk Freedom Act, a pair of bills that would allow the transportation of raw milk across state borders.
70.
In 2015 Thomas Massie introduced the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act to ease federal regulations regarding the sale of meat within state borders.
71.
In 2013 Thomas Massie introduced the Justice Safety Valve Act to provide judges with greater sentencing flexibility.
72.
Thomas Massie has criticized civil asset forfeiture laws, calling them "legal robbery" and "completely unconstitutional".
73.
Thomas Massie was the sole member of Congress to vote against the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in November 2019 and the UIGHUR Act condemning the treatment of Chinese Uyghurs in December 2019.
74.
Thomas Massie clarified on Twitter that his reasoning was that it is not the role of the United States to intervene in other nations' internal affairs.
75.
Thomas Massie was one of only three House members to vote against the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2020, and was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'etat that overwhelmingly passed in 2021.
76.
On February 26,2020, Thomas Massie voted against making lynching a federal hate crime.
77.
In 2014, Massie joined Representatives Walter B Jones and Stephen Lynch at a press conference to call for release of the 28 redacted pages of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11,2001.
78.
In 2016 Thomas Massie joined both representatives in writing to Obama urging him to declassify the pages.
79.
In 2015, Thomas Massie introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act to "require the Comptroller General to conduct a full examination of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks".
80.
Thomas Massie has supported efforts to legalize industrial hemp cultivation, introducing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act in 2013 as well as hemp-related amendments in 2013,2014, and 2015 that were approved by the House.
81.
Thomas Massie has stated that medical cannabis patients should be able to legally purchase firearms and that he would introduce legislation allowing them to do so.
82.
Thomas Massie has endorsed legislation in Kentucky to legalize the medical use of cannabis.
83.
Thomas Massie is among a handful of members of Congress who consistently vote to block disaster relief.
84.
However, when Kentucky has been hit by natural disasters, Thomas Massie has supported disaster relief.
85.
Thomas Massie voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.
86.
In October 2019, Thomas Massie criticized the jail sentence for Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent in the United States.
87.
Thomas Massie believes in intellectual property and thinks it is necessary for incentivizing innovation.
88.
Thomas Massie has remarked that this is one of the areas where he is not a libertarian.
89.
Thomas Massie is a part of a small group of Republicans who voted against a House resolution reaffirming commitment to the orderly and peaceful transfer of power in the United States under democratic principles.
90.
Thomas Massie was one of seven Republicans who did not support their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election on January 6,2021; these seven signed a letter that, while giving credence to election fraud allegations made by President Donald Trump, said Congress did not have the authority to influence the election's outcome.
91.
In June 2021, Thomas Massie was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6.
92.
On June 27,2021, Thomas Massie said he and Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ralph Norman were suing Speaker Nancy Pelosi after they were fined for refusing to wear masks on the House floor.
93.
Thomas Massie endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president in the 2024 election, saying that "America needs a leader who is decisive, respects the Constitution, understands policy, puts family first, and leads by inspiring".
94.
On December 4,2021, Thomas Massie drew criticism for posting on his Twitter account a family Christmas photo with an assortment of guns, just days after four teenagers had been killed in the 2021 Oxford High School shooting.
95.
Thomas Massie appeared as a contestant in a 2002 episode of the TV show Junkyard Wars.