ATLANTA—For too long, Republicans have caused the things they campaign against, like big government spending, Rep. Chip Roy said Saturday.

“Republicans give lip service to wanting to … shrink the size of government,” the Texas Republican said at Erick Erickson’s The Gathering conference in Atlanta, “and they won’t do it.”

Many Republican members of the House of Representatives voted against spending cut amendments in the federal budget in March, Roy noted.

“Until Republicans are willing to do what Democrats are always willing to do, which is risk your election certificates to change the country and change the trajectory of the country, it’ll never change,” Roy said.

In his famous 1964 speech, “A Time for Choosing,” Ronald Reagan presented Americans with the choice between freedom under limited government, and big government intervention. According to Roy, America chose wrong.

“We didn’t choose the right path,” Roy said. “With all due respect, we didn’t choose it.”

Roy said there is a way to restrain spending without touching Medicare benefits and Social Security.

Republicans too often side with Democrats on spending, Roy said. Too many of Roy’s colleagues in the House were unwilling to cut the Inflation Reduction Act, which Roy has said gives “handouts to Democrats’ corporate cronies.”

“What good is it to just be the slightly less bad version of Democrats?” the congressman asked.

Defense spending should be limited to securing the United States of America, Roy argued. Under the Biden-Harris administration, America is not secure, due to the open border and “woke” military policies.

“We need the strongest military in the world, and it needs to be sparingly used,” he said. American tax dollars should not go toward the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“I am sick and tired of politicians and frankly, activists and pundits, going on and talking about what we we need do or not do in Ukraine,” Roy said. We should not send $175 billion to “fund Zelensky’s war, no matter how righteous you think it is or not.”