By Bradley Devlin, The Daily Signal | December 19, 2024
The drama surrounding the government funding deadline escalated Thursday when President-elect Donald Trump attacked Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. The shocking development came as Trump insisted on including a debt limit increase, which Roy firmly opposes.
“The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump posted from his Truth Social account. “The Democrats are using them, and we can’t let that happen.”
“Our Country is far better off closing up for a period of time than it is agreeing to the things that the Democrats want to force upon us,” he added. “Biden is President, and it’s his obligation to properly lead. We’re there to do the right thing, and we can’t agree with what Biden and the Democrats are demanding. Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again. Put ‘America First,’ and go for the Victory, even if it means shutting the Government down for a period of time.”
“We had an overwhelming Victory just four weeks ago, and we’re not going to let the Democrats forget it so quickly!” Trump added.
In a follow-up Truth, Trump made his threat to have Roy primaried explicit: “Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent. By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!”
Trump and Roy agree that shutting down the government is better than selling the farm to Democrats, but there are some important distinctions to make in their current positions on government funding. Nevertheless, Roy seems to agree with Trump on this and many other issues, such as foreign wars, government weaponization, and immigration, more so than many of his House GOP colleagues.
Despite their commonalities, the Roy-Trump rift has grown in recent years.
Roy has been among the most vocal opponents of the more than 1,500-page continuing resolution (a temporary spending bill) with over $100 billion in extra spending since its release Tuesday night. “We get this negotiated crap, and we’re forced to eat this crap sandwich,” Roy said of the continuing resolution House Speaker Mike Johnson negotiated with Democrats. “It’s the same dang thing every year. Legislate by crisis, legislate by calendar. Not legislate because it’s the right thing to do.”
Trump, whose relationship with Johnson has grown throughout the Louisiana congressman’s time as speaker, has, for the most part, refrained from publicly criticizing Johnson’s previous negotiations with Democrats. On Wednesday, however, Trump also came out in opposition to the continuing resolution. In a joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, Trump said he believed the continuing resolution was a bad deal and that a further suspension of the debt ceiling should be included.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” the statement read.
Trump and Vance pushed for “a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling.”
“Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” the statement added.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF,” Trump and Vance implored. “It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
Trump is essentially telling Johnson he ought to have the stones to call this current continuing resolution what it is: Democrat obstructionism. Democrats know full well this package would never pass the House, but have decided to play political brinkmanship to punish the American people for voting against them in November.
Instead, Johnson brought the negotiated continuing resolution where it was quickly panned, notably by Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Roy is also disappointed in the negotiated package, but, unlike Trump, he wants a continuing resolution with spending cuts that does not address the debt ceiling. “My position is simple – I am not going to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (racking up more debt) without significant & real spending cuts attached to it. I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies,” Roy posted on X.
The president-elect thinks Roy is missing the point. The only way for Republicans to get out of this bind is to present Democrats with a united front and legislation that is fairly unobjectionable. If Republicans bring up a clean continuing resolution with aid for farmers and hurricane victims attached, Democrats could go along, or they could risk getting blamed for a government shutdown.
If Democrats do shut the government down, Republicans could present a powerful narrative: The Biden administration has already been caught withholding hurricane aid to Trump supporters, and now they’re withholding aid from farmers and hurricane victims in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida for voting against Democrats in November.
On Thursday afternoon, Johnson unveiled a new continuing resolution. This version is only 116 pages long and is being called the American Relief Act of 2024. Like the previous version, the new continuing resolution would fund the government through March, extend the farm bill for a year, and provide $100 billion for disaster aid. Democratic sweeteners like health care reforms, however, have been cut out, and the debt ceiling would be suspended until January of 2027, according to Axios.
Trump posted his endorsement of the legislation on Truth Social. “Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal for the American People. The newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes,” the post read.
“A VERY important piece, VITAL to the America First Agenda, was added as well – The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027. Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish,” Trump added. “All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!”
Roy, meanwhile, still wants to push the envelope with spending cuts and try to deliver on Republicans’ campaign promises before the next Congress starts.
“More debt. More government. Increasing the Credit Card $4 trillion with ZERO spending restraint and cuts. HARD NO,” Roy posted on X after the release of the new continuing resolution.
Roy’s continued opposition doesn’t quite explain the vitriol for Roy in Trump’s previous statement, however. “How’s Bob Good doing” is key to understanding the subtext of Trump’s attack. Trump backed a Republican primary challenger to Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, because Good endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the presidential primary. Roy did the same. Good lost the race to Rep.-elect John McGuire by 374 votes.
Even before the primary, in 2021, Trump endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik over Roy to replace former Rep. Liz Cheney as House GOP conference chair. “Can’t imagine Republican House Members would go with Chip Roy—he has not done a great job, and will probably be successfully primaried in his own district,” Trump said at the time. Trump said Roy would likely face a primary defeat because Roy bucked the trend of Texas Republicans in the House by refusing to object to certifying the results of the 2020 election.
All that history is coming to a head now. And Johnson is the one who is likely to pay the price. Johnson likely needs Roy to play mediator between leadership and the House Freedom Caucus, something Roy has done since former Rep. Kevin McCarthy became speaker, in order to get this new continuing resolution passed through the House today. Already, other members of the House Freedom Caucus, namely Reps. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., have told members of the press they oppose the new continuing resolution.
With certain House rules preventing leadership from moving immediately on the bill and conservative opposition to the new continuing resolution already growing, Johnson will likely have to bring this package to the floor under suspension of the rules, which will require two-thirds of the House (read: a lot of Democratic votes) for it to pass.
With his relationship to his right flank in tatters, it’s not only government funding that could be at risk for Johnson. The speaker’s gavel could be, too.
Bradley Devlin is politics editor for The Daily Signal.
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