Rep Roy hints at defunding Treasury secretary after she refused to negotiate with GOP on debt ceiling

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Chip Roy: Federal spending needs to go back to pre-COVID levels

House Budget Committee Member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, says the Biden administration is throwing out ‘crumbs’ like the Willow oil drilling project after other ‘failed policies.’

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, hinted at defunding Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, after she appeared to refuse the possibility of working with Republicans on the debt ceiling discussion during a Senate hearing Thursday.

"Can you commit at least to negotiate with Republicans, as we try to work forward on finding some aspects of fiscal restraint to put into the debt ceiling discussion?" Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, asked Yellen during the hearing.

Yellen said that President Biden seeks a "responsible fiscal path" and that "this is a matter that he is very prepared to discuss and negotiate with Republicans, but it can't be a condition for raising the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling simply must be raised, and to put at risk the full faith and credit of the United States and to threaten to cause an economic and financial catastrophe isn't an acceptable requirement," the secretary stated.

Roy hit back at Yellen's testimony, hinting at using the GOP majority to defund the secretary on Twitter Friday.

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"I need to check my notes, but I am pretty sure Congress pays for the Treasury Secretary to exist… #ShrinkDCGrowAmerica," Roy wrote in a Tweet Friday.

When asked about the possibility of defunding Yellen, Nate Madden, strategic advisor and communications director for Roy, highlighted the Holman Rule that was recently reintroduced in the House.

"The agreement from the speaker’s race brought back the ‘Holman Rule’ which allows line item defunds of specific bureaucrats and that the tweet addresses the secretary’s position, not the department itself," Madden said.

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In January, House Republicans approved the Holman Rule, a package that allows lawmakers to cut the income of federal employees.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing on The Presidents Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, in Dirksen Building on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Tom Williams)

Though Roy did not specify if he would be seeking to cut Yellen's salary, the congressman recently quoted former President Madison's statement that the power of the purse is the most "effectual weapon" for House representatives.

"In Federalist 58, James Madison called the power of the purse ‘the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people.’ Those words are still true, and more of my fellow Republicans ought to heed them," Roy said in a September 2022 press release.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was one of the 20 Republicans to not initially vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. (Kevin Dietsch)

Roy recently urged the House GOP to "defund" the Department of Homeland Security over allegedly mishandling handling the crisis at the southern border.

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"The Biden admin & Swamp Dems are ‘at WAR with the American people’ - but the GOP can STOP them. Republicans must STAND UP for America & DEFUND these tyrants with the House's power of the purse. Rep. Roy breaks down his plan: #NotOneMorePenny for tyranny against Americans," Roy's press office wrote in a January tweet.