The federal shutdown has now persisted for 36 days—longer than any in American history—and every extra hour of this crisis is a self-inflicted wound by House and Senate Democrats. Millions of hardworking families are cut off from food stamps. Our troops still haven’t received their paychecks. Air traffic controllers are working for free. That’s political sadism, plain and simple.
Republicans in the Senate and House have passed multiple clean funding bills. We offered to keep the government open at current spending levels while continuing negotiations on border security and healthcare. Democrats rejected every one. Their refusal isn’t about policy differences—it’s about raw power.
This shutdown is a reckless, partisan stunt. It’s not “leverage.” It’s hostage-taking. Democrats are weaponizing the budget process to force ideological giveaways on issues ranging from Big Green subsidies to trillion-dollar welfare expansions. They are letting America—and its most vulnerable citizens—pay the price.
Law enforcement officers guarding our Capitol are going without pay. Secret Service agents who protect our leaders are going without pay. Postal workers, TSA agents and National Park rangers are reporting to work under the same threat: zero dollars in their bank accounts. Democrats talk compassion, but their actions reveal cruelty.
Senator John Fetterman—a Democrat—has sided with Republicans to end this debacle. He called out his own party for playing a “sh–ty political game” at the expense of Americans’ livelihoods. If a liberal from Pennsylvania can see this folly, every Democrat in Congress should follow his lead right now.
Republicans remain ready to negotiate border security enhancements, streamline bureaucracy, and fund critical defense programs. We’ve proposed merit-based immigration reforms, more effective vetting protocols, and wall funding that actually deters illegal crossings. These are common-sense fixes that keep America safe and solvent.
Yet Democrats would rather watch our economy teeter, our debt climb and our military morale collapse than admit defeat. They cling to maximalist demands while ordinary Americans go hungry and fearful. This is not leadership. It’s political malpractice.
The solution is straightforward: reopen the government with a clean continuing resolution at existing levels, ensure back pay for every furloughed or unpaid federal employee, and then hash out the remaining disputes in regular order. No more hostage crises. No more Kafkaesque budget blackmail.
Congress must act today. Every day the government remains shut down, America’s reputation takes another hit. We cannot stand by while Senate Democrats feed their ego at the expense of our citizens. It’s time to end this shutdown, restore services, and get back to defending our nation—both at home and abroad.
The American people deserve better than this. Republicans are delivering solutions. Now it’s up to Democrats: either reopen the government or bear full responsibility for every missed paycheck, every delayed benefit, and every compromised mission. The American people will remember who stood in the way.
