Chip Roy: Constituents say ‘shut down border or shut down government’

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Monday that voters want lawmakers to shut down the government if there is no deal on the border.

“I never think we should give Ukraine more money without forcing border changes. We need to. It's the only tool we have, Neil,” he said. said on FOX News' “Your World With Neil Cavuto.”

“I mean, I don't want to do that. I don't want to rattle on a shutdown for the sake of it. But the people I represent want to keep the border closed until we wake up President Biden and President Mayorkas and let them do their jobs.” Or shut down the government,” he continued.

Roy suggested last week that conservative lawmakers would need to withhold funding to get the Biden administration to agree to Republican border demands. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) sought to back away from concerns about a government shutdown over the weekend, saying in Roy's remarks that he had not threatened one.

Roy also said Monday that Texas has been forced to take border issues into its own hands to “protect” itself.

“We had to put in our own money to do what the federal government was supposed to do,” he said. “And the deadline for us to do something about it is long past. That's why I don't think we should give money to the government without getting change.”

Some conservative lawmakers have already threatened to shut down the government across the border. Last week, Roy circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter urging lawmakers to delay government funding legislation until Democrats and the White House agree on the border security and asylum reforms contained in HR2. appealed to. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives in May. .

“We need to fund federal operations conditional on the president signing HR 2, or its functional equivalent, to stop flows across the border,” he said.