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Home – Podcasts – ‘FINISH THE MISSION’: Chip Roy Pulls Back the Curtain on Intra-GOP Fight Over SAVE America Act and Border Security

‘FINISH THE MISSION’: Chip Roy Pulls Back the Curtain on Intra-GOP Fight Over SAVE America Act and Border Security

The following is an excerpt of Daily Signal Politics Editor Bradley Devlin’s interview with Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, for “Signal Sitdown,” which premieres on the Daily Signal’s YouTube page at 6:30 a.m. EDT on July 23.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Bradley Devlin: You just came out with a letter outlining 14 different items that you want to see done before we get to the midterms. We got this majority. It was a Republican trifecta. It happens rarely in history. Don’t waste it.

And so, first and foremost, I want to ask you a little bit about your background and your experience on the Hill. Why is this moment so important? What, in your experience, has made you feel that way?  

Rep. Chip Roy: I’ve spent too many years in Washington. 

That’s what you’re saying. That’s code for being here too much. But, yeah, I was a lawyer on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I was Sen. [Ted] Cruz’s chief of staff. I’ve now been in Congress for going on eight years. And so, I know the town pretty well. And you have these brief moments where you have opportunity. 

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And it’s not just the trifecta, but even that is itself rare, as you just described historically, but it is also having a president willing to act. We have one. An administration filled with doers and people who understand the town and get a lot of stuff done, like my good friend Russ Vought at [the Office of Management and Budget] and others. 

That’s rare. And a Congress that has some people who are of substance that are in the fight and know what we need to do, and we’ve got that moment. But that’s coinciding with a critical moment for the nation. And there are so many things hanging in the balance. And if we don’t act with this moment, then we risk losing the country and losing things every second that goes by. 

We’re watching [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani. We’re watching the march of Islam across Texas. We’re watching the still-considered efforts by illegals here to avoid the law and to stay in this country illegally, and more to keep coming. 

We’re watching the continued expansion of the surveillance state and corporate America and AI advancement, and some of those things are good, and some of those things are concerning. 

I could keep going down the list, but all of these things add up to a pivotal moment in history where we’ve got the right moment. Let’s take advantage of it. 

We’ve done some good things in 18 months, but we haven’t done enough. And we’ve got six months left in this Congress. Let’s go finish the job, regardless of what happens in November. 

I think when you do that, you win. That’s my experience, to put a finer point on it. When you lead, you win. When you play prevent defense, to use a football analogy, I think you start losing. I think we’re playing … I think we’re risking right now playing prevent defense. 

I think we need to be on offense. The president’s instincts reflect that. The president’s always on offense. I think we need to be, too. 

If you go back two years and you go to what worked for the president and, responding to Biden and the president was on offense and Congress was drafting in behind the president’s campaign, and we were given a mandate very clearly on the border. 

And the president has honored that mandate. And that’s why one of the major things I think we need to address is codifying what the president has done on the border, which is reflected, as you pointed out, in the previous Congress’ HR 2, which is now something we are marking up next week after a pretty extensive battle on the House floor yesterday. 

We’re now going to be moving that legislation, a new form of it, slightly tweaked, but basically that legislation through Judiciary Committee next week.

To answer your question, as I mentioned before on prevent defense, the typical view in this town is you got to start thinking about everything through the electoral lens. 

You can’t be stupid about that. And look, there are a lot of smart political minds in the White House and around the country that need to figure out and address different issues for our different members, and we’re aware of that. But we ran on securing the border. 

We campaigned on that. Let’s go do that. 

Devlin: You mentioned a prolonged fight on the House floor. This culminated yesterday. We are recording this on July 15th. 

Tell us about this fight over getting a vote on HR 2. I’m old enough to remember when I was........

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