Republicans added $150 billion to the War Department's budget last year in anticipation of Democrats using a government shutdown for political leverage, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Appearing on "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Roy said GOP lawmakers saw this moment coming and took steps to ensure military operations and troop pay could continue even if Democrats refused to pass a clean funding bill.
"When we set out a year ago to have the 'Big Beautiful Bill' have $150 billion of additional money in it for the Defense Department, we were looking ahead to this moment because we knew what Democrats would do," Roy said.
"They would play politics for political purposes and jam up the ability to pay our troops. So we put some money in there specifically with this in mind, knowing Democrats would play games."
Roy said the House passed a simple, clean funding measure that mirrored Biden administration spending levels, but Democrats blocked it.
"We sent over a funding bill which essentially was at the Biden levels," he said.
"I'm a conservative; I would have liked it at lower levels. But we did our job.
"We sent over a simple, clean bill, which Democrats have always said they support — and they refuse to pass it," Roy said.
As few as five Democrat holdouts are preventing the government from remaining fully funded, he said.
"There are literally five human beings who stand in the way. A couple of Democrats have already indicated they're with us.
"So five Democrats — if they'll join those two, we'll have a funded government. That's all it takes," he said.
The Texas congressman accused Democrats of prioritizing left-wing interests over the needs of the military and working Americans.
"If Democrats want to keep playing politics, they can go explain to the American people why they think all of these things should be shut down for no purpose," Roy said.
"They're not fighting for the little guy. They're fighting to enrich insurance companies, to give healthcare to illegal aliens, and to fund ridiculous liberal programs.
"They're destroying our country, and they're going to have to answer for this," he said.
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