Rep. Chip Roy blasted House Speaker Mike Johnson for the sprawling $1.2 trillion spending package, saying the speaker “blew it” and that passing the bill will risk the GOP’s majority in the House.
Mr. Roy, Texas Republican, has long decried colossal spending bills and called for a yearlong funding patch to secure steep spending cuts across the government instead of another compromise spending bill such as the 1,012-page bill now before Congress.
“It’s total lack of backbone, total lack of leadership, and a total failure by Republican leadership, there’s no other way to describe it,” Mr. Roy said on former Trump White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon’s War Room. “This bill is an abomination.”
He said Mr. Johnson “blew it” by conceding ground to Democrats on conservative policy priorities, like allowing for the Pentagon to continue its travel reimbursement policy for abortions and not including more stringent border security measures.
“I’ve been sold a lie every step of the way that next week we’ll do something,” Mr. Roy said of promises made by Mr. Johnson on securing the border.
Mr. Roy’s sharp criticism starkly contrasts the victories in the bill claimed by congressional leaders on both sides, such as Mr. Johnson lauding increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement beds and Democrats touting 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan refugees.
“Light up your congressman and congresswoman,” Mr. Roy said. “Light them up. Light up your senators. Tell them the truth that they are risking the House majority if they vote for this bill.”
The heads of the House and Senate Appropriations committees unveiled the spending package early Thursday. It includes spending for roughly two-thirds of the federal government, including the Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, Labor, the Internal Revenue Service and Foreign Operations.
It is the final spending package for fiscal 2024, which began Oct. 1. The government has been running on spending patches ever since.
Congress is up against a Friday midnight deadline to approve the funding to avert a partial government shutdown.