Chip Roy blasted House Republicans today for once again caving to Biden and the Democrats on spending levels with a government shutdown looming.
He explains what is going in the thread below.
…After passing 3 “continuing resolutions” (CR) for 5 mos. at Pelosi funding levels w/ promises to “fight,” an NDAA w/ token “DEI” policy wins & an extension of FISA spying-on-Americans, & no real border security wins, GOP leaders are poised to… INCREASE spending…(2/x)
…& likely fund Ukraine’s border…
This despite a year of hard-fought negotiating that gave us spending caps IN LAW we can enact simply with a CR thru 9/30 to cut total spending, leave defense & veterans untouched, & cut 10% ($73BB) of Biden’s non-defense bureaucracy… (3/x)
…But the current “plan” is to pass GOP-negotiated funding bills we haven’t seen yet (they say we’ll “have 72 hrs. to review”) that will give $30BB MORE than Pelosi’s FY23 omnibus to Biden & progressive Dems by embracing spending “side deals” that are NOT even in law… (4/x)
…thus publicly taking shutdown off the table (i.e. no leverage).
Worse, we are told that because there is war in Ukraine & China is dangerous, a CR that doesn’t “increase” defense spending “doesn’t meet the moment.” That’s why they aren’t leveraging spending caps in law! (5/x)
…We are told “we can’t risk shutdown,” but must eat HIGHER spending than Pelosi & temper expectations on so-called policy riders (sight unseen) to only “singles & doubles” (not “homeruns”), which means no real wins on, e.g., border policies to end releases, student loans… (6/x)
…transgender surgeries, climate/EV mandates, DOJ & Jack Smith or FACE Act prosecutions, reforms to COVID tyranny, and more… which tracks because the @HouseGOP told Senate Dems in January there was a “deal” for HIGHER spending with no policies locked in… (7/x)
…& we are told there is no alternative that can get 218 GOP votes. Yet, I’ve not seen an official “whip” (vote count) on any possible alternative packages that we could try to get 218 – despite having successfully done so multiple times last year, and… (8/x)
… it is notable that the current “deal” will fall way short of 218 Republicans, & like every other significant bill passed in recent months, will likely pass with MORE Democrat votes than GOP, & very well might end up with less than even a majority of GOP supporting… (9/x)
We are told leadership has been robbed of leverage on policy negotiations because we have failed to pass all GOP rules… ignoring the fact that leverage is actually lost WHEN YOU DEMONSTRATE NO INTENT TO USE IT… (10/x)
…like the Speaker’s own admission “we can’t risk a shutdown,” & “flat defense spending does not meet the moment.” (11/x)
Beyond capitulation on spending & most policies in the bills, there’s no mention of a plan to:
-secure the border
-truly reform FISA (ie, clarity on warrants/other protections in a future bill)
-hold line on Ukraine either entirely or at minimum until the border is secure (12/x)
Bottom line: Republicans are putting out the same tired excuses that we’ve been telling our voters for decades. We can’t let the swamp dictate the terms.If we want to achieve something different, we have to do something different.
Pick a fight and win it.