Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy blasted lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on the House Armed Services Committee for voting in favor of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requiring women to register for the military draft, tweeting that its supporters can “go straight to hell.”
The amendment, led by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), was adopted in a 35-24 vote on Wednesday, with the final bill expected to come to the floor later this month.
In a lengthy Twitter thread directed at his congressional colleagues on Friday, Roy said he does “not trust you [lawmakers] to do anything at all, much less say you will draft my daughter to ‘non combat’ roles,” citing his frustrations on an array of policy issues he disagrees with that received bipartisan support ranging from fiscal issues to the handling of the southern border.
“Maybe it’s because you (both R&D) have amassed $30 trillion in debt and are blowing through trillions more… all while giving lip service to “balanced budgets” for decades…,” he tweeted.
“Maybe it’s because you (both R & D) have talked about securing our border while Texans suffer – our ranches, our schools, our hospitals – Fentanyl pouring into our communities… murders, rapes… dead migrants on ranches… all in the false name of compassion…”
Roy then blasted the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the the approach to pulling troops out of Afghanistan while airing his grievances that have sowed his distrust in Washington.
“Maybe it’s because you (both R&D) politicized a virus … giving us wildly varying propaganda about it’s origins, the nature of it’s communicability, the efficacy of your mandated measures in response including vaccines, and ignoring of treatments… Maybe it’s because you (both R&D) have destroyed our healthcare system and made it impossible to get the doctor of our choice at a remotely affordable price all in the false name of ‘coverage,’” he continued.
“Maybe it’s because both R&D have had us at war for 20 years… without any actual new AUMF or consistent guidance from our political leaders about victory… all while our troops sacrificed, and we set the stage for a gutless President to surrender and empower our enemies…”
The Texas lawmaker went on to take aim at critical race theory, alleging “funded education bureaucrat after education bureaucrat to teach our kids that American is evil and racist” and accuse lawmakers of embracing policies he believes “render us less secure economically and less secure against our enemies to appease institutional investors and the Acela corridor cocktail circuit” before concluding
Now you – including likely 28 GOP House members voting for an NDAA last night to do so – want to draft my daughter and just ‘trust you’ not to put them into combat? All of DC – all of it – can go straight to hell. (9/9) #DontDraftOurDaughters,” he said
When social media users pushed back on his rejection of the policy, with one social media user tweeting that “Both [sexes]must feel the weight of casting a vote for a candidate who wants war with the reality they may be sent,” Roy shot back that he would rather see the draft abolished than see women forced to participate.
“Abolish the draft if you want. But under no circumstances will you draft our wives and daughters. Total, complete, bullshit. #DontDraftOurDaughters,” he tweeted.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved similar language during a markup in July.