Rep. Chip Roy, a vocal critic of spending deals, seeks Rules Commitee gavel

WASHINGTON — Texas Republican Chip Roy, a Rules Committee member who has voted against seven rules for floor debate in this Congress, has added his name to the crowded list of applicants to chair the powerful panel in the next Congress.

Roy, 52, told former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon that he’s in the mix for the role on Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Wednesday.

“Obviously I have put my name out there,” Roy told Bannon, who said he favors Roy for the role. Roy said he’s “proud” to have the support of a number of colleagues but emphasized that decision was up to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Fellow Texas Republican Rep. John Carter quickly announced his endorsement for Roy as Rules chair in a post on the social platform X. Carter wrote that Roy “will build the conservative coalition in the House needed to support President Trump’s priorities as the Rules Committee chairman.”

The Rules Committee is the chamber’s “traffic cop” and determines the manner in which legislation comes to the floor and what amendments can be offered, if any. Current Chairman Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas, did not seek reelection and will depart at the end of the 118th Congress.

Rules isn’t like other standing committees where the Steering Committee weighs committee chair candidates and makes a selection. Rules is considered the “speaker’s committee,” because the speaker appoints all panel members, including the chair.

Roy, who first entered Congress in 2019, is a former top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with a history of stirring the pot and making things difficult for his own leadership. He’s served on Rules since early 2023, after negotiations with ex-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., during the latter’s bid for the speaker’s gavel.

Roy is an influential House Freedom Caucus member and serves as the group’s policy chair. Roy was among the early holdouts against McCarthy but eventually came around, and he was not among the eight Republicans who eventually joined all Democrats in removing McCarthy’s gavel.

“I think that I would add some value to that position because of my expertise in the rules, and because I think I could figure out how to bring the conference together because we have to deliver,” Roy said on Bannon’s show. “We have to get to 218 votes to deliver on the agenda.”

Roy has been a thorn in the side of recent GOP speakers, however, including McCarthy as well as Johnson, whose backing he will need for the role. Roy has voted against at least seven rules for floor debate in this Congress, including five since Johnson became speaker, largely in protest over spending deals the speaker cut with Democrats.

Voting against one’s own party’s rules for floor debate is typically considered an act of disloyalty — and particularly for a member who serves on Rules.

Roy took aim at his own leadership in a widely cited Nov. 15, 2023, floor speech, a day after he and several colleagues successfully blocked a rule to take up the fiscal 2024 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill and legislation to freeze certain Iranian assets.

That was in protest over a stopgap funding measure without any spending cuts or conservative policy changes that GOP leaders put on the floor the same day under suspension of the rules.

“For the life of me, I do not understand how you can go to the trouble of campaigning, raising money, going to events, talking to people, coming to this town, as a member of a party who allegedly stands for something … and then do nothing about it,” Roy said. “Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides saying, ‘oh, it is not as bad as the Democrats.'”

Praise for Johnson

But Johnson has shown a lenient streak to those who’ve opposed him in the past, including fellow Rules member Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who led an unsuccessful push to oust Johnson earlier this year with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Roy hasn’t voted against a rule since this past April, in protest over the Ukraine aid supplemental package. But since then he’s been more of a team player, voting to table Massie’s motion to declare the office of the speaker vacant and supporting leadership’s legislative efforts for the most part.

On Bannon’s podcast Wednesday, Roy went out of his way to praise Johnson’s efforts steering the annual defense authorization bill, for instance. He said Johnson led the way in securing language that would bar the military health care program from covering gender-affirming services for minors, and also in holding total authorized defense spending down to statutory limits.

Roy is not alone in seeking the Rules gavel. Several other current and former committee members have expressed interest, including fellow Texas GOP Rep. Pete Sessions, who chaired the committee from 2013 to 2018. Outgoing Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., is also a candidate, and has been considered a favorite for the position. Selecting Foxx could also quiet criticism that House Republicans haven’t named any women to top committee roles for the 119th Congress.

Johnson hasn’t said yet when he’ll make a decision on the Rules membership for the 119th Congress. He still needs to be reelected to the speakership after the House reconvenes on Jan. 3.