Texas lawmaker again irks D.C.’s ‘swamp’
WASHINGTON — In his first months in office, Texas U.S. Rep. Chip Roy has rivaled the early version of his former boss, Sen. Ted Cruz, in becoming a disrupter on Capitol Hill.
Cruz earned his reputation in 2013 when he engineered a government shutdown in a futile gesture to starve the Affordable Care Act of money. Cruz 2.0, still an unbending conservative, has emerged as more of a team player.
Three weeks ago, Roy, R-Dripping Springs, drew the ire of victims of tornadoes, flooding and wildfires, kindling a fire around himself by standing alone on the House floor to block passage of billions of dollars for disaster relief.
Wording in the bill to speed release of $4.4 billion for Texas to prepare for the next hurricane didn’t give Roy pause or stop him from voting no when the package finally passed.
Last week, Roy lobbed a procedural monkey wrench into a series of spending votes, contributing to a 4:01 a.m. adjournment of the House on June 13 and embellishing his profile as a politician unafraid to poke his finger in the eye of the institution.
Roy’s latest tactic drew praise from allies but triggered grousing from Republicans and Democrats alike, some of it on Twitter.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted at the time that Roy “is catching hell from colleagues right now” who were complaining that they were missing fundraisers and asking him, “Just exactly what do you think this will accomplish?” and “Are we getting paid overtime?”
Roy tweeted that he heard “a glossary of swamp rhetoric, and that his favorite comments were “Pick your battles,” “Making lots of friends” and “What’s our strategy?”
His motivation for both recent stands, he says, is an urgent need to redirect $4.5 billion for the Southwest border to deal with the crush of asylum-seekers arriving from Central America.
“I don’t care whether you’re left-wing, right-wing or moderate. It is unconscionable what is happening to our communities and migrants,” he says.
Roy’s objections run deeper, aimed at the top-heavy, often sclerotic lawmaking process that has evolved on Capitol Hill. The way the House runs, with leaders firmly in control and with eyes on the next election, is provoking backlash from the left as well as from Roy and his House Freedom Caucus allies on the right.
“Some people who are critical would say that I’m trying to be a committee of one and just decide ‘this is the way I think it has to be.’ No. What I’m trying to do is use the tool given to me as a member with an election certificate to the House of Representatives to elevate the conversation and force the decision,” he said in an interview.
Roy deployed Twitter to defend himself, referring to members of Congress as “jet-fume sniffing, cocktail-sipping, swamp creatures.”
Does he really feel that way? When asked that question, Roy remarked that people on Twitter are apt to come up with punchy phrases. But yes, he allowed, that’s how he feels.
“This town is what it is. It’s the same town that tried to scold me that said I don’t think we should be passing a bill to supposedly do back pay for federal workers,” he said.
He was referring to his no vote, one of just seven, against compensating federal workers for lost pay in the government shutdown in January.
“Perpetuate the shutdown so these guys could go hop in their jets and do all of their fundraising,” he said. “I’m not going to throw stones from a glass house. But I am going to try to do what is right at the right time.”
He added: “The only real backlash has come predominately from the swamp. And if the swamp is biting back, then you’re fighting the right fight.”
Coverage of Roy typically includes references to Cruz, whose Senate office Roy ran as chief of staff before competing for the seat opened with longtime Rep. Lamar Smith’s retirement.
Roy noted he’d accused a reporter of “lazy journalism” for equating him with Cruz.
“I’m different than Ted Cruz. I’m my own guy,” he said, noting that he had worked for other Texas Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn and former Gov. Rick Perry among them.
Roy was likely to be a target of Democrats nationally given that he won his first term by less than 3 percent. His actions early on have highlighted the target on his back, amid speculation that former state Sen. Wendy Davis is on the verge of pursuing the Democratic nomination to make the race.
Roy is raising money by citing a Davis challenge. A close ally, Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, a pugnacious former college wrestler, went to bat for Roy in a mailer this week, referring to the Texas freshman as a “conservative warrior.”
Roy, Jordan wrote, “is facing a potential onslaught of liberal money from across the country in his re-election campaign. News recently broke that one of the left’s favorite champions, abortion-extremist Wendy Davis, is looking very seriously at running against Chip and will decide very soon.”
Roy says he has expected a challenge but believes that his 21st District — which stretches from San Antonio to Austin and includes many Hill Country voters — knew they were getting a principled conservative willing to take stands.
“I think what I’m fighting for is good for all Americans regardless of what their ideology is. So if the Democrats want to mount a challenge, go ahead. Place a big pile of money in Austin and light it on fire. I’m going to win next year,” he said.
As far as making his points, Roy says he’s not sure what comes next. But he added, “I’ll always use every tool at my disposal at the appropriate time to try to make a messaging point or achieve a policy victory, or both.”
“I think what I’m fighting for is good for all Americans regardless of what their ideolog y is. So if the Democrats want to mount a challenge, go ahead. Place a big pile of money in Austin and light it on fire. I’m going to win next year.”
Texas U.S. Rep. Chip Roy