Video appears to capture GOP lawmaker’s strategy ahead of 2022 midterms
By Daniella Diaz and Ryan Nobles, CNN
Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas revealed in a video circulating online that he wants to jam Democrats’ legislative goals so Republicans can win the 2022 midterms.
In the video posted by Democratic activist Lauren Windsor on Tuesday, Roy was asked specifically about infrastructure negotiations in Congress.
“The people who were working to cut the deal, by the way, were not your conservative warriors in the Senate. And so they’re cutting a deal, but then Biden, who came out and said, ‘We have a deal,’ allowed Pelosi to basically kind of step in and go, ‘Whoop, no you don’t.’ You’re only gonna get that deal if you have reconciliation with all this liberal garbage,” he can be heard saying in the video.
He added: “And then Biden said, ‘OK, yeah.’ And they kind of backed away from the deal. Then he kind of came back away from the veto threat, so nobody knows what anybody’s gonna do right now. That’s the thing. This is the problem. I actually say, thank the Lord. Eighteen more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done. That’s what we want.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Roy responded to coverage of his earlier comments in a statement standing by his remarks, saying he plans to “oppose almost everything that Congress does,” and pledging “to fight with every ounce of my being to stop the radical left — and weak Republicans.”
“For the next 18 months, Republicans’ job is to do everything that we can to slow down and block the Democrats’ radical agenda, and then win the majority and lead,” Roy said.
The Texas Republican made the initial remarks at a June 29 Patriot Voices event, which was also attended by Republican Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama, according to photos posted on Facebook.
He was specifically referencing negotiations between Democrats and President Joe Biden on the bipartisan infrastructure package and a separate reconciliation package that included Democratic priorities on infrastructure. Some progressive Democrats have said they would not get behind a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless Democrats also try to pass a budget resolution at the same time.
Last month, Biden walked back remarks when he said he wouldn’t sign a bipartisan bill on infrastructure unless it came paired with a reconciliation proposal for “human infrastructure.”
This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
