EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Leads Effort to Block New Democrat Spending in Stopgap Bill

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is leading a House GOP effort to block Democrats from using a last-minute stopgap funding bill to tie Republicans’ hands in 2023 if they take the majority.

In a letter addressed to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) obtained by The Epoch Times, Roy demands that Republicans oppose any continuing resolution (CR) that raises current spending levels or expires before Jan. 3, 2023.

Because the 118th Congress will sit for the first time on Jan. 3, allowing a CR to run out before then could give a lame-duck Democrat majority a last minute chance to fund its policies through all of fiscal year 2023, even if voters give Republicans a mandate in the new Congress.

In the letter, which is circulating among House Republicans, Roy wrote: “Federal dollars are fueling rampant inflation and funding the Biden administration’s radical agenda. This includes empowering authoritarian bureaucrats at agencies like the IRS and FBI, implementing open-border policies that are threatening our communities, imposing COVID-19 mandates that shut down schools and are forcing our military servicemembers out of their jobs, and advancing self-destructive energy policies.

“As the September 30th federal funding deadline approaches, Republicans must do what is necessary to ensure that not one additional penny will go toward this administration’s radical, inflationary agenda,” he continued. “Any legislation that sets the stage for a ‘lame duck’ fight on government funding gives Democrats one final opportunity to pass that agenda.

“Therefore, we, the undersigned, pledge to the American people to reject any continuing resolution that expires prior to the first day of the 118th Congress, or any appropriations package put forward in the remaining months of this Democrat-led Congress.”

It is not clear how many Republicans have signed onto the letter.

Another Warning About Democrat Proposals

In a statement put forward by Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Banks warned