As the House falls once again into paralysis with a hard-right flank of Republican lawmakers revolting at the deal House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is reportedly nearing with President Joe Biden, one of the dissenters, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), went on CNN to defend the brinksmanship bringing the government close to a shutdown — and was grilled relentlessly by anchor Pamela Brown.
"There is a very slim majority in the House, you've got a Democrat-controlled senate and a Democratic president, this is what you have to do to get the deal done," said Brown. "What do you say to that?"
"You should take the House majority for a bit of a spin and go to Charles Schumer and the president, we hold the power of the purse, we had an agreement, caps were in place, adhere to the caps," said Roy. "We will get to the spending restraint and we can move forward. I think that is what we should do. If they want to shut down the government, that is on them."
"No, no, it's not on them, it's on you and the other hardliners, Republican hardliners," said Brown.
ALSO READ: Donald Trump’s un-American ploy for criminal immunity
"Wait, why?" protested Roy. "Why is it on us?"
"Johnson already announced the top lines for the deal with Democrats," said Brown.
"Which is a violation of the agreement, so why would it be us?" said Roy. "They're the ones choosing a shutdown."
"Speaker Johnson would say he is following the agreement, and I've gotten $16 billion in extra spending cuts, that's a $30 million total from what Democrats wanted initially, and we are sticking to the deal that was struck," said Brown.
"It is not, it is 1.66 trillion using a bunch of side deals and gimmicks to expand the size of the government well over the omnibus spending bill," said Roy. "Let's be clear, this is a big give for me to say I would consider that when the Texas border is wide open, as I want to see our borders secured first for me to say I will consider a CR through the end of the year that would adhere to the caps, so we can govern through this 'divided government,' that's actually a give on my part because Texas is under assault by a recalcitrant administration and a secretary of Homeland Security who was thankfully grilled today by Mark Green for lying to me under oath while people are assaulted in Texas."
Watch the video below or click here.