AMERICANS ARE ASKING QUESTIONS

On 2026-09-16, Representative Chip Roy (R-TX-21) delivered a floor speech titled "AMERICANS ARE ASKING QUESTIONS" in the House.

AMERICANS ARE ASKING QUESTIONS

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026)] [House] [Pages H5976-H5978] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] AMERICANS ARE ASKING QUESTIONS (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Roy of Texas was recognized for 19 minutes.) Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, yet again, I am sitting here in an empty Chamber late at night. People have gone home to campaign. I understand that it is campaign season. But while some are preparing for elections, American families are preparing for another trip to the grocery store, are filling up their cars, are paying their mortgages and their rent, and are looking at their utility bills. A lot of Americans are asking a simple question: Why are things so expensive? Why is life so hard to afford? Inflation, lower than it was 2 years ago, is still built on the back of the massive inflation after COVID. Today, the Federal Reserve raised rates another .25 percent, raising rates for the first time since 2023. Gasoline prices and diesel prices continue to go up and rise as the war in Iran rages on. Americans have difficulty affording their homes. All of these things are true. Now, why is that the case? Let me pause for a second and say that until a little over 18 months ago, 19 months ago, President Trump comes in, and this Republican Congress got to work. I am deeply proud of the work that we have done to take on the biggest challenges that our Nation faces. I also want to say that I am deeply proud of the United States House Freedom Caucus, conservatives who stood up in defense of the things Americans sent us here to do. But for conservatives and but for the Freedom Caucus, we would not have reduced spending on welfare, Medicaid, and the various programs ripe with fraud that are racking up mountains of debt and causing the American people to have to spend much more in inflation. But for the Freedom Caucus, we would not have saved $1.7 trillion. But for conservatives and the Freedom Caucus, we would not have repealed $500 billion in inflation-causing subsidies put on by green new scam companies trying to make money off of the back of taxpayers. But for the Freedom Caucus, we would not have eliminated a tax on guns that infringe on our Second Amendment right. But for the House Freedom Caucus, we would not have made the tax cuts permanent all the way through. But for the House Freedom Caucus, we would not have passed the Laken Riley Act, with the SUE Act in it, giving power to States to sue the Federal Government if they fail to secure the border. But for the House Freedom Caucus, we would not have gotten a 5-year ban on a central bank digital currency, to protect you from surveillance. But for the House Freedom Caucus, we would not have held off on just an automatic renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, carrying out surveillance on the American people. I can go on and on and on. But the people that are in here trying to fight every single day for the hardworking American feeling screwed by their government and screwed by corporate America, those men and women, those patriots in the House Freedom Caucus and conservatives, are going to bat for you. I can tell you, a lot of people in this town are not. A lot of people in this town want the easy road. A lot of lobbyists and a lot of people who are more interested in their election certificate or climbing the ladder of being a committee chairman or in some leadership post, they don't dare care about what that means for you. That is true on both sides of the aisle, and we need to recognize that. Even as we speak, there are candidates who are in an R plus 20 or R plus 15 district who are already jockeying for committee positions. Even as we speak, there are current Members of this body spending money to try to raise money for their colleagues in large amounts to try to buy a committee chair, to try to buy a seat in leadership. I think we ought to be here right now. I think we ought to be finishing [[Page H5977]] the job, because I am proud of the job that we have done because of those of us who have stayed through the night until 2 a.m.--regardless of what phone call we get from the White House or when we get it--to demand that we deliver for the people of the United States. Some folks in the White House have a moniker for some of us: ``the 2 a.m. caucus.'' I am a proud member. You think you need to call me at 2 a.m. to get my vote? Yes, you do, because this is Article I, this is Congress, and we are the first branch of government. This is the people's House. We ought to be here, and we ought to be delivering for the people of the United States. When we do, we are at our best. When we do, we deliver results for the American people. But when we try to politicize or self-serve or climb the ladder of committee chairmanships and leadership, then we walk away from what our core responsibility and our job actually is. Going back to the American people who are still struggling to afford life, I don't care what billionaire I piss off when I tell them that the American people are suffering right now because they can't afford a home or because they can't afford their food or they can't afford a car because we want to have another safety device in the car or another regulation in the car or a surveillance apparatus, like a kill switch, in the car. Then we wonder why the car can't be afforded. Maybe it is another protection device in the housing. Maybe we need to import a whole lot of cheap labor that are going to be increasing the demand on the housing so American citizens can't afford a house. Both the supply and demand of housing is causing the increase of prices. When you import half the world demanding housing, you wonder why housing is going up. When you regulate the hell out of homebuilding, you wonder why the price of housing is going up. When you import half the world, you wonder why the entirety of the culture of this country changes in a nanosecond and you suddenly have mosques on every corner in Dallas/Fort Worth and you have people spreading sharia law and you have people that are standing in values that are directly opposed to what we believe in our Judeo-Christian society. When we say, ``In God We Trust,'' we mean it. When we have Moses looking down on our Chamber, we mean it because we know what this country was founded upon. Yet, when we are importing half the world with people who do not share our values, you wonder why there are imams in Texas today that are literally plotting jihad against Western civilization. Then you wonder why the American people are mad, because the chamber of commerce and big business said they valued cheap labor more than protecting the people of the United States, more than protecting our culture, our heritage, and who we are as people. That is what the American people are mad about. You want to know why they are mad about data centers? I will tell you why they are mad about data centers. It is not electricity or water necessarily. That is part of it. It is not necessarily noise pollution or light pollution. If they are out in a farming community, that is part of it. You know what it is? They are sitting in their town, and they are being told: You must do this because of China; you must do this because it is really important. To do what? Some esoteric defense against the arms race against China, so I can have a concrete box outside of my small town in west Texas that is filled with computers that are being operated by people on H-1B visas from India, that are chock-full of all sorts of searches for child pornography and hooking kids on porn or betting on college sports, while we turn college sports upside down and make it basically professional. Then we have TikTok targeting our kids. Then even the most important and the smartest people in the world tell our people: You are not going to have a job in 10 years because robots and AI are going to take your jobs away. Why do you think the American people are in revolt to data centers popping up at every corner in America? All because the powers that be in this town and in tech oligarch rooms across the country say: You got to do it because of China. How about the people of this body meet the people where they are. {time} 2150 People who want to be able to afford food and housing and cars. People who want to have their communities. They want to be able to maintain the culture of their country. They want their kids and their grandkids to have a job. They want to have the dignity of work. They want to pass that down because they know that is what made this country great. They don't give a rip about the earnings per share announcements that are coming out of Wall Street. They want their country back. That is what they want. If we want to go out and earn votes between now and November, let's talk to them about taking their country back for them. Let's make sure that we stand up in defense of what they want. I can promise you that as secure as the border is, because of the great work of the Trump administration, we have not codified a darn thing in this Chamber. I had to threaten votes sitting in that aisle right over there. I had to threaten votes in July. Remember the 2 a.m. caucus that everybody gets mad about? That is too damn bad. I am happy to do it because someone has to do it. They were going to just gloss over a bill that we have to codify the President's policies of securing the border, stopping the abuse of asylum, stopping the abuse of parole, stopping catch and release, stopping the abuse of unaccompanied children, all of these things that led directly to the deaths of Americans like Laken Riley, like Jocelyn Nungaray, and countless others. We said we were going to do something about it and we didn't. I want every Republican to hear me. We didn't. Some of us stood up t