‘I Would Do It Again’: Rep. Chip Roy Reflects On Years Of Service And Previews What’s Next
'In many ways, I hope [to be] even more influential because I [will] not have the constraints of an election certificate,' Roy told The Federalist.Two three-letter agencies beginning with “I” show how differently Democrats view enforcement. When it comes to ICE, any enforcement is too much. When it comes to the IRS, no amount can be too much.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement administers U.S. immigration law. The Internal Revenue Service administers U.S. federal tax law. In neither case do these agencies make the law. Congress writes the laws, and the president signs them. The agencies simply enforce what has been enacted.
Democrats act as if illegal entry earns indefinite permission to stay. No one would tell tax evaders they can stop paying indefinitely.
Yet Democrats want to abolish ICE for enforcing immigration law and to bolster the IRS for enforcing tax law.
Consider the contrast. A growing chorus of Democrats now demands ICE be abolished, just as these Democrats called for defunding the police. Meanwhile, just months into his term, President Biden proposed doubling the size of the IRS, increasing its funding by $80 billion, and hiring 87,000 new IRS agents. Democrats delivered much of that in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, with almost 60% of the nearly $80 billion aimed at audits.
ICE targets those breaking U.S. immigration law. Everyone with income is subject to IRS review, and many are audited. The first group is a subset of the population; the second is essentially the entire adult population. Democrats oppose scrutinizing noncitizens living here illegally, but they welcome more scrutiny of U.S. citizens.
The penalties differ just as sharply. The Department of Homeland Security currently offers to pay for a flight home and $2,600 for those in the country illegally who choose to self-deport. If they refuse and are found to be here illegally, ICE deports them. The duration of illegal presence does not add penalties. In fact, the longer someone has been here illegally, the more Democrats argue he should be allowed to stay.
The IRS treats duration very differently. Unpaid taxes accrue penalties and interest that multiply over time. The IRS can garnish wages and seize assets, including homes, cars, and businesses. It also has imprisonment in its arsenal.
Families factor in differently too. Democrats routinely argue that deportations are wrong because they hurt families. Yet IRS prosecution and punishment also hurt families, often severely, and that fact does not seem to trouble Democrats.
Intent is another difference. Many people here illegally know they are here illegally, and many fail to show for immigration hearings. By contrast, many tax problems begin as mistakes. Yet the money is still owed, and the IRS will move to collect when it discovers the error.
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Democrats also argue that illegal immigrants bolster the economy because they work and add value to GDP, even if they are not paying taxes. But the same is true of someone who evades taxes: He works, adds value, and withholds what he owes.
No one argues that tax evaders should be left alone. They broke the law. If they did so deliberately, they deserve little sympathy. Allowing tax dodging encourages more of it.
Yet Democrats say almost exactly the opposite about those who break immigration law, including those who break other U.S. laws as well. They have gone to great lengths to defend them, even traveling to El Salvador in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused gang member and human trafficker.
Democrats act as if illegal entry earns indefinite permission to stay. No one would tell tax evaders they can stop paying indefinitely.
Imagine sanctuary jurisdictions shielding taxpayers from the IRS. Imagine local authorities refusing to cooperate with federal tax collectors. Imagine Republicans storming federal prisons holding those convicted of tax fraud. Imagine conservatives building databases to track IRS agents. The backlash would be immediate and rightly so.
Tax evasion is not treated as a persuasive argument about tax policy. Illegal immigration, however, gets treated by Democrats and the establishment press as if lawbreaking itself settles the immigration debate.
On enforcement, Democrats apply two standards: one for immigration law and one for tax law. That is what hypocrisy looks like.
Obamacare was supposed to solve the problem of a small minority of people who couldn’t afford health insurance but weren’t eligible for Medicaid. Fifteen years later, Democrats now admit their plans are so expensive that unless taxpayers cover nearly the entire cost, they remain unaffordable.
Instead of regulating and subsidizing the market into insolvency, Republicans should finally offer a bold alternative to the largest sector of the economy and the most expensive line in a household budget.
$40 billion a year goes to insurers to pad numbers and keep insolvent plans alive.
News of a possible government shutdown dominates headlines, but few understand what triggered the standoff over fiscal year 2026 funding. Democrats insist that Biden’s COVID-era expansion of Obamacare subsidies be extended or made permanent. In other words: more debt to prop up a broken system. Just what we need.
Through the 2021 COVID bill and the Orwellian-named 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats raised the income cutoff for subsidies from 400% of the federal poverty line to 800%. That’s roughly $300,000 for a family of five. The change placed nearly everyone outside employer coverage under government subsidies. Millions now pay nothing for premiums. The bill goes straight to the national debt.
Insurers responded as any vendor feeding at a public trough would: They raised prices. Family premiums have jumped 20%-25% since 2021, with another 6.5% hike expected next year — the largest increase in 15 years. Because government, not consumers, is now the customer, companies treat subsidies as free money. The result: Health care drives the deficit spending that makes everyday living more expensive.
Small businesses suffer most. Employer plans aren’t subsidized, so workers lose potential wage increases to soaring premium costs. Since 2014, family premiums have climbed 52%, the worker’s share 31%. Deductibles for individual plans have surged 53%, reaching $1,787 in 2024.
The grift goes farther. Paragon Institute data shows that nearly 12 million enrollees never used their coverage. Before Biden’s credits, only 4 million filed no claims. Today, 45% of the 24.3 million exchange “enrollees” are phantom accounts — people auto-re-enrolled, some without even knowing it.
Once Biden pushed full subsidies for those earning up to 150% of poverty — 55% of 2025’s enrollees — brokers saw a jackpot. With clients paying nothing, brokers collected thousands in commissions per sign-up. Some pocketed $6,000 per plan. Insurers happily billed the government while HHS looked the other way. Paragon estimates that 6 million people received full subsidies despite earning above the threshold.
That means $40 billion a year goes to insurers to pad numbers and keep insolvent plans alive.
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The real fix is simple: Stop inflating prices with subsidies and break the insurance cartel.
With more than 70 million already pushed onto Medicaid, why not put everyone else into one competitive market where consumers choose freely and insurers compete with unregulated plans?
Trump and congressional Republicans should counter Democrats’ proposal with a market-based plan that:
Federal health spending has ballooned from $85 billion in 1987 to nearly $1.5 trillion today — double since Obamacare. Employer-based insurance, warped by government tax policy, adds another $1.1 trillion. More subsidies will only deepen the hole.
Republicans should seize the chance to present a real alternative: consumer choice, price transparency, and competition. That’s the only way to bring health care costs down without bankrupting families or the nation.