In an impassioned speech, Perry said that while he won’t “trade freedom for federal money,” other governors have accepted Medicaid expansion under President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul to bring federal dollars back to their states despite the national debt. Chris Christie of New Jersey and John Kasich of Ohio have accepted the expansion, but Perry’s most obvious target was Kasich.

“The idea that Washington has this federal pot of Ohio Medicaid money that would have gone to some other state is just nonsense,” Perry said. “That money doesn’t come from an endless vault of money in Washington. It is borrowed from bankers in China and children in Cleveland and Columbus.”

Perry also made an apparent jab at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker when he said it should trouble voters when a candidate “says he’s pro-life but runs television ads saying abortion is a decision between a woman and her doctor.” Walker aired such an ad during his re-election campaign last year.

The Texas governor said to be wary when candidates “rail against Common Core on the campaign trail but supported it in the capital,” an apparent reference to the change in position by Christie and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in the face of strong conservative opposition.