Chip Roy on Debt Ceiling Deal: ‘It’s Garbage, but It’s Better Than a Massive Uptick’

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) criticized the debt ceiling deal on Wednesday, but said he believed Republican negotiators worked in good faith to get the best deal they could and expressed optimism there would be course correction later in the year.

“I think [House Speaker] Kevin [McCarthy] and [Reps. Garret Graves] and Patrick [McHenry] — that’s the guys that were up there negotiating — I think they were in good faith working to try to get the best deal they could,” Roy said in an exclusive interview with SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily.

However, Roy, said he personally would not have taken the deal.

“I think we had an overall commitment that was working for five months to keep everybody at the table to advance a strong conservative agenda. And it was working and the American people were behind us. I think they took the early off ramp,” he said.

“I think they cut a deal that is not good enough to have cut and are doing it and now they’re gonna have to defend it, which is then gonna leave us split. So my view is we’re going to have to move forward and pick additional fights and we’re going to have to be righteous in the appropriations fights. And we’re going to have to prove that we can do even better. That’s where we are.”

At one point, it was unclear whether Roy and other conservatives would call for new for McCarthy to step down as House Speaker, but so far, he and others have held off — a victory for the speaker.

Roy argued the deal would leave a number of progressive policies intact, but said Republicans did essentially win a spending freeze.

“We’re moving the needle…at the end of the day…we got a spending freeze. I think it’s garbage, but it’s better than a massive uptick,” he said.

He said the fight to cut government spending will have to play out later with appropriations bills, which actually appropriate the money and he remained optimistic that Republicans can prevail.

“I’m going to call balls and strikes there too. And everybody in my conference knows it. So we’ll go from here. I’m optimistic because the American people who have stood up and said, ‘No.’ No to needles getting stuck in their arm, no to all of the mandates being told they gotta keep their businesses shut down,” he said.

“I’m proud of the people and the American people who’ve said no and stood up. And that gives me hope and optimism. We just need more of that in Congress,” Roy concluded.

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