Congress Should Hold Funding for DOJ, DHS to Force Changes: Rep. Roy

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) speaks during a House Rules Committee meeting on issues affecting working Americans and small businesses in Washington on June 20, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) says Congress should exercise its authority over government to push through changes in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the safety and well-being of the American people.

“I believe that the Department of Justice has been weaponized,” Mr. Roy told Shannon Bream during an Aug. 6 interview on Fox News Sunday. To demonstrate his point, he referenced multiple instances, including those targeted for their pro-life position.

“We should hold funding back and force changes in the Department of Justice in the appropriations process,” Mr. Roy said. “We should hold funding back from [DHS Secretary] Alejandro Mayorkas for leaving the border exposed and going after Greg Abbott for daring to want to secure the border while little girls get sold into the sex trafficking trade, as we’re seeing in the [movie] ‘Sound of Freedom.’

“This country wants their country back. They want to believe in America again. They want to actually know the rule of law is being enforced. So we should use the power of the purse in Congress.

The lawmaker cited using “the power of the purse” as was laid out by James Madison in the Federalist Papers, calling it “the most powerful weapon against an over tyrannical executive branch that we see unfold right now before us.”

“I can tell you right now, for all my colleagues, I will not vote for a continuing resolution or any funding for DHS or DOJ if we don’t get changes to both,” Mr. Roy said.

“I want the border secure. I want DOJ restored to following the rule of law.”

In the same vein of fiscal responsibility, the lawmaker commented on the Fitch rating agency downgrading the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+, saying the government is currently “recklessly” spending money.

“We are funding a bureaucracy that is at odds with the American people,” Mr. Roy said. “We’re funding a DHS that doesn’t secure the homeland. We’re funding a DOJ that doesn’t enforce the rule of law. We’re funding a DOD that is more interested in being woke and having social engineering wrapped in a uniform than defending the United States.”

“So my job is to hold that spending back in September to 1.471 trillion, which was the 2022 levels, and then we start getting us on a path to actual fiscal sanity.”

Trump’s Call for Changes

Amidst mounting tensions and allegations of political bias, Republicans have revealed their intentions to initiate a comprehensive transformation of the DOJ.

The move comes as former President Donald Trump and prominent conservatives continue to assert that the DOJ has been subject to partisan influences and requires significant reform.

Mr. Trump, still a leading voice within the Republican Party, has consistently voiced his belief that a revamping of the DOJ is long overdue. His recent comments at a Republican Party dinner on Aug. 4 in Alabama highlighted his concerns over what he perceives as a politically motivated persecution against him.

The former president said he is facing an “outrageous criminalization of political speech” and said his “enemies” were trying to stop him and his political movement with “an army of rabid, left-wing lawyers, corrupt and really corrupt Marxist prosecutors,” “deranged government agents, and rogue intelligence officers.”

He called the indictment “an act of desperation by a failed and disgraced, crooked Joe Biden and his radical left thugs to preserve their grip on power.”

Mr. Trump also told reporters after his most recent arraignment, “This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So if you can’t beat ‘em, you persecute ’em, or you prosecute ‘em.”

Targeting of Mayorkas

In July of this year, Republican lawmakers confirmed to The Epoch Times that the House’s majority party was ready for Biden administration cabinet members to “do their jobs” and that they are contemplating legislation that would eliminate Mr. Mayorkas’s salary in response to mistrust over the failure to enforce the U.S. southern border.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) was among the lawmakers speaking out.

“People are sick of inaction against elected officials who betray their oath and refuse to do their jobs. Congress is given the power of the purse by the Constitution, and if the president’s Cabinet secretaries won’t do their jobs, we should consider using any tool, including the Holman Rule, to defund them and their ability to do further damage.”

“Do your [expletive] job, or Congress will act.”

The Holman Rule allows the House to file amendments to spending bills that restrict the use of federal funds for programs or even the salaries of specific federal employees.

Another concerned Republican is Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who said in a statement confirmed by a staffer for The Epoch Times that “Secretary Mayorkas has facilitated Biden’s large-scale invasion of our southern border by allowing over 6 million illegal aliens—that we know of—to cross and jeopardize our national safety and sovereignty.

“His salary should be completely zeroed out, and he should be impeached as soon as possible,” Mr. Good said.

The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.