(NewsNation) — While the House remains stalled in ongoing budget negotiations, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, believes President-elect Donald Trump does not want to cut from Social Security and other essential benefits on which Americans rely.
Lawmakers, he said, have alternative strategies to reduce expenditures by cutting unnecessary government spending, Roy said.
“I’ve got legislation, for example, to empower people with health savings accounts,” Roy said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance.” “Move power away from insurance companies to patients and doctors. That would drive down prices of Medicare.”
“We can do a lot without touching benefits,” Roy added. “In addition to getting rid of the student loan fiasco, getting rid of the Inflation Reduction Act … doing what we need to do to cut spending to pre-COVID levels. That’s what we wanted to do.”
President-elect Trump encouraged Republicans in Texas to consider a primary challenge to Roy, after he blamed the congressman for “getting in the way” of a push to raise the debt ceiling as part of government funding talks.
“The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory — All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
In a subsequent post, the president-elect said he hoped “some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!”
Roy responded on the social platform X that he would not act on the debt ceiling without “real spending cuts.”
“My position is simple – I am not going to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (racking up more debt) without significant & real spending cuts attached to it. I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies.”
NewsNation’s “The Hill” contributed to this report.
