113th Congress: Thomas Massie, R-Ky. (4th District)

By George Cahlink, CQ Staff

Thomas Massie turned to politics after making millions founding a technology company in Massachusetts. His calls for steep cuts in spending and less regulation should find him voting regularly with conservatives.

“My primary concern is out-of-control spending,” Massie says. He will be seated early to finish the term begun by Republican Geoff Davis, who resigned in July.

He casts himself as a Washington outsider who favors terms limits, won’t take a congressional pension and wants a simplified tax code. “Taxes are too high and too complicated. My wife and I have three engineering degrees from [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] and we can’t do our own taxes,” Massie says.

His interest in cutting spending could land him on the Budget Committee. “I will encourage them to cut real spending by 1 percent each year until the budget is balanced,” says Massie, who argues his approach would have the government out of the red by 2019. He’d further save money by abolishing the Education and Energy departments.

Massie, who holds 24 technology-related patents and won a $30,000 prize for inventiveness at MIT, would also seem a likely candidate for the Science, Space and Technology or Small Business panels.

The house on his farm relies on solar, geothermal and other natural powers sources. Massie supports all forms of domestic energy production, provided they are not subsidized, and argues that the government overregulates farms.