A U.S. Congressman is standing firm in his assertion that funding should be withheld from the Department of Homeland Security until the border security crisis is resolved.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has been advocating for Congress to use the power of the purse to deny funding to the DHS until significant changes are made to improve border security.
This week on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Roy responded to users while advocating that action be taken at the border.
One user on the site commended him for his advocacy on the topic, to which Roy responded, “‘We can’t do anything until next election cycle’ is not good enough, period. Time for action.”
Another wrote to Roy and asked, “What is your plan Congressman? The Democrats control the Senate and there is a Democrat in the White House. Tell us the plan when the government shuts down.”
Roy’s answer was simple: “Win.”
Still, a third user claimed this response meant the congressman “has no plan.”
Referencing that remark, Roy wrote, “When he says have a ‘plan,’ he means ‘what deal can you cut in light of not having 60 votes in the Senate & not having the White House.’ I say – maybe Joe should call us, given that power of the purse thing.”
The U.S. representative first began proposing this strategy during an appearance on Fox News Sunday in August, where he told show host Shannon Beam that the DHS is “leaving the border exposed.”
“… [W]e should use the power of the purse as James Madison wrote in Federalist 58: It’s the most powerful weapon against an over-tyrannical executive branch that we see unfold right now before us,” he insisted.
When asked how agencies would be able to provide security if defunded on September 30 — the deadline for a budget to be passed before a government shutdown — Roy responded, “It’s not about taking money away from it.”
He added, “It’s about saying, ‘You’re not going to get a blank check on September 30 without the president coming to the table … and saying, ‘OK, here’s what we’re going to do to restore the Department of Justice,’… ‘Here’s what we’re going to do to secure the border.’”
In a letter sent to Congress shortly after that interview, Roy and 14 other Republican Texas congressmen asserted, “The State of Texas is bearing the brunt of a national crisis at our southern border.”
Roy declared in the letter that Texas has spent roughly $10 billion to fund border security actions such as Operation Lonestar, Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to improve security at the border.
The letter called for Congress to use the power of the purse to force President Joe Biden to handle the border crisis while also stating that the DHS should not receive funding until multiple steps are taken.
These steps included passing border security legislation, adopting policies that provide law enforcement resources to help combat cartels, refunding Texas the $10 billion it reportedly spent on security, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas resigning.
