Chip Roy Furiously Tears Into Fellow Republicans

Chip Roy attacked his fellow Republicans in a surprising speech on Wednesday.

Speaking on the House floor, the Texas Republican and Freedom Caucus member accused his own party of having done "nothing" with their majority in the House of Representatives. They have 221 seats to the Democrats' 213.

He said: "You know, we have had a tumultuous year of sorts, but in the eyes of the American people, they've been watching from afar wondering when this body, the people's House, will stand up in defense of the people who send us here."

"When are we going to do what we said we would do?" he continued.

His attack comes amid internal divisions in the GOP, which led to the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October. Mike Johnson was elected as the Speaker of the House later in the month, but it took four ballots of voting.

The House has just averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding bill, but 93 Republicans voted against it, in part because it did not include the spending cuts they wanted.

"For the life of me, I do not understand how you can go to the trouble of campaigning, raising money, going to events, talking to people, coming to this town as a member of a party who allegedly stands for something... and then do nothing about it," Roy said.

"One thing: I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing—one—that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!" He then asked Republicans to come down to the floor and "explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides, well, 'I guess it's not as bad as the Democrats.'"

Newsweek has contacted Roy and the GOP by email to comment on this story.

Reacting to a clip of the speech on X, formerly Twitter, Matt Gaetz, a Florida representative, said Roy was "correct."

Campaign group Republicans Against Trump also shared a clip and wrote: "Republican Congressman Chip Roy just gave Democrats their best campaign ad for 2024."

Brian Williams, a surgeon and a Democrat who is running for Congress in Texas, said: "Never thought I'd say this... but if you agree with Chip Roy, make a contribution to our campaign to help flip Congress and put Republicans leadership out of their misery."

This is not the first time Roy has clashed with his own party. Marjorie Taylor Greene took umbrage with him and 23 other Republicans voted who voted against Greene's efforts to censure Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib over her response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. She was later censured in another vote.