Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, declined to attend the House Republican retreat in Florida this week, saying in a statement that he would rather stay in Texas than spend "$2K to hear more excuses" from legislators.
Roy, who has clashed with President Donald Trump in the past and supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP primaries, on Tuesday rebuffed reports that he is attending the House GOP retreat at one of Trump's golf resorts in the Miami area.
"It is being reported I am not at the so-called Republican retreat in Florida. I am not," Roy wrote on social media. "I am in Texas, with my family & meeting with constituents, rather than spending $2K to hear more excuses for increasing deficits & not being in DC to deliver Trump's border security $ ASAP."
Roy later added in a statement: "If you're asking me to go spend money to go sit in a resort rather than doing our damn job in Washington with a plan that we put forward, well, you've got no plan. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go be a husband, a father and a kid and go listen to my constituents."
He continued: "They'll find out when it comes to the day that we're voting on whether they're listening to us or not, because, look, I'm not going to back down on honoring the commitment that I made to the people that I represent to reduce the deficit, to truly secure the border."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.