‘We Utterly Failed’: Chip Roy Says Republicans ‘Totally Dropped the Ball’ When They Controlled Congress Under Trump

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) delivered a blistering speech on Tuesday, accusing Republicans of having “utterly failed to secure the border” when they controlled Congress under former President Donald Trump.

Reacting to the news that Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) will retire from the House on March 22, making the Republican majority even narrower, Roy said, “We had another member of Congress resign today. So now I’ll be told, ‘Chip, we only have a one-seat majority or two-seat majority.’ I don’t even know what it is anymore.”

He continued:

Let me ask the question, does it matter? In 2018, we had the House, we had the Senate, we had the White House, and we had a bigger majority than we have today, and we utterly failed to secure the border. Totally dropped the ball. Didn’t do it. Why? I remember why! They would say, “Chip, we don’t have 60 votes in the Senate.” Let me be very clear to the American people back home, there is always an excuse for why those who campaign to come to this town fail to deliver. Always.

Buck’s announcement on Tuesday came as a surprise to many in the Republican Party, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who told reporters he was not informed about Buck’s plans prior to the news.

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash why he was retiring, Buck said, “Well, everywhere I go in Colorado, Dana, I hear that people are not happy with Trump and are not happy with Biden.”

He continued, “I’m going to leave and I’m going to find the right organization to join, and I’m going to start working on that issue. We have to have better candidates up and down the ballot, not just president, but Senate, House, local offices. We’ve got to find better ways to elect candidates and bring America together.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.