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Chip Roy on Why He Backed Trump's Spending Bill
Today's guest is Rep. Chip Roy (R–Texas), a fiscal hawk whose commitment to balancing the budget has led President Donald Trump to call for primary challenges against him.
Nick Gillespie sits down with Roy to talk about why he ultimately voted for the president's budget-busting One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), whether the controversial redistricting plan going on in Texas is legit, the expansion of the federal government under both major parties, and where libertarians and conservatives can work together to reduce the size, scope, and spending of the state.
0:00—Intro
0:41—Why we must control government spending
4:20—The OBBBA and the national debt
6:30—Facing off with Trump
9:25—The Federal Reserve's existence and independence
11:00—Reforming the health care system
14:21—Victories from the OBBBA
19:16—The influence of Ron Paul
24:51—Immigration, labor, and assimilation
35:17—Is there a new GOP consensus on foreign policy?
41:50—Texas redistricting
44:28—Cultural identity of Texas
Upcoming events:
The Soho Forum Debate: Melanie Thompson vs. Kaytlin Bailey, September 15
Transcript
This is an AI-generated, AI-edited transcript. Check all quotes against the audio for accuracy.
Nick Gillespie: Chip Roy, thanks for talking to Reason.
Chip Roy: Happy to do it, Nick. Appreciate you guys.
You are a rare voice of fiscal shrinking in Hollywood.
Hollywood for ugly people.
In Hollywood, yeah. In Washington, D.C. That has put you in the crosshairs with [President] Donald Trump in particular. You don't want to raise the debt ceiling unless there's a reduction in spending. You pushed back against the Big Beautiful Bill, although you did cave and supported it.
We'll come back to the word cave, but OK.
Well, you voted for it.
Sure.
Talk a little bit about your general philosophy. Why is it so important that government spending be either held constant or reduced?
First of all, my view is that the power of the purse is the central power of Congress, and we've abdicated it for as long as I can remember. If you don't constrain that power of the purse, then you're funding the very bureaucracy that was predicted by the founders and has proven to be true to be at odds with our liberty. You fund the bureaucrats that are then turned on us.
Why has Congress…to say they're asleep at the switch is an understatement. What's going on? You came into office in 2019, but this has been going on for at least 20 years before.
Or more, yeah.
My observation over time is that we're actually at a moment where more members of Congress get it than I've ever seen in the past, that's the good news. But the bad news is, it's still a woefully inadequate group of people to change it.
I think, really, at the end of the day, members of Congress believe that they get more popularity in votes by spending money. I actually just disagree with that. I'm a cancer survivor. I have cancer groups who come in and they ask me for money. I say, "God bless you. I know what you're trying to do. Research is great. But do you have a pay for that?" No. Well, the
Published on 3 weeks ago