Speaking to a nearly empty House chamber on Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) delivered an impassioned speech excoriating the legislative body for its failed leadership as U.S. cities burn amid a pandemic and a cratering economy.
After explaining how a recent visit to Independence Hall fixed in his mind the extraordinary nature of American representative government, Roy said, “This people’s House, in my opinion, is failing the people of the United States. I’m going to say that again. The people’s House, the 435 representatives that make up this half of Congress — one-half of one-third of the federal government — is failing the American people.”
“It is failing the American people because we literally never debate,” Roy continued. “We literally never offer amendments and have any debate here on this floor. We are ruled by a handful of folks who make rooms in back chambers, drop bills on the floor of the House, and then demand we come down and vote on them. By the way, that is both Democrats and Republicans.”
Roy went on to denounce the intractable bureaucracy the House of Representatives has become, where, he said, “if you even dare think about offering an amendment to a bill, you gotta go to some Rules Committee to get blessed to be able to even have the ability to offer it. You’ll get shut down in Rules Committee, and then there’s never any debate.”
“What kind of a people’s House is that?” Roy asked. “I would posit that it is not one.”
Roy went on to lament the lack of leadership in Washington, D.C., during a time when “we have so many issues right now that are tearing our country apart.”
“If there were leadership, we would have actual debate,” Roy said. “We would actually sit down here and come up with ideas, and offer solutions, and then hammer them out. We would actually sit down at a table like a small business or sit down at a table like a family and balance a budget. We would have a debate about the proper policies to deal with a pandemic instead of pointing fingers and politicizing a virus.”
Pivoting to recent violence roiling cities like Portland, Oregon, Roy also railed against how that crisis, too, has been politicized. He also slammed Democrats for the way they treated Attorney General William Barr during his congressional testimony on Tuesday.
“What did they do when the Attorney General of the United States was here before the House Judiciary Committee but sit there and talk over him and mock him and relentlessly stand on the side of lawless Marxists who are trying to destroy a city of the United States of America, instead of standing up alongside our law enforcement?” Roy said.
“What are we doing? What are we doing as a country?” Roy asked, pointing out that Congress planned to cram in a few more votes Friday before taking a month-long recess “while our businesses burn, literally and figuratively; while millions of Americans don’t have jobs …”
“It is an absolute embarrassment what has become of the people’s House,” Roy scolded. “We should be ashamed. We should be ashamed that we are not here doing the work of the American people.” He added that the Democrats seem “hellbent on tearing down this great country brick by brick, statue by statue, thread by thread of our flag, word by word of our anthem. It’s a mockery of this House.”
WATCH:
Pt 1: A tribute to my staffer's sister, Rebekah, who passed two weeks ago, along with another college student, while fighting for their beliefs. They embody the greatness of America. pic.twitter.com/fNKPDPLIMd
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) July 31, 2020
Pt. 2: 51+ million Americans are out of a job, millions more are suffering, and the People's House is adjourning this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/nRktmVlU9D
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) July 31, 2020
Pt. 3: I will not runaway from defending the greatness of America. I will not stand here and accept that the House of Representatives isn't doing its job. pic.twitter.com/arAmtpSkle
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) July 31, 2020
Related: GOP Congressman Introduces Legislation To Install National Debt Clocks Into Congressional Rooms
