The federal government shut down on Oct. 1, and Senate Democrats continue to block Republicans’ clean, short-term, nonpartisan funding bill. The consequences of this Democrat shutdown are real, and Americans are paying the price.
While the Trump administration is making remarkable efforts to mitigate the impact of a government shutdown, a prolonged shutdown means canceled flights, halted paychecks for U.S. service members, paused telehealth services, higher unemployment, and slower economic growth.
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As the shutdown drags on, paychecks and critical services for Americans are being disrupted. Hardworking Americans have been laid off, furloughed, or forced to work without pay. The paychecks for more than 1 million active-duty service members could be affected. In my home state of Texas, over 230,000 civilian federal employees and military personnel may be affected.
Funds for food assistance programs and healthcare services for seniors are also drying up. President Donald Trump has rightly redirected funds to provide temporary assistance to the Women, Infants, and Children program. But if this shutdown continues, over 6 million women and children — including about 784,000 in Texas — will remain at risk of losing this critical assistance.
How did we get here? On Sept. 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a clean, short-term continuing resolution. No partisan politics, no strings attached. This bill would have kept the government open at current funding levels while giving Congress time to pass a fiscally responsible budget. I voted for it, and it passed the House by a vote of 217-212, with two Republicans voting no and one Democrat voting yes. Since then, Senate Democrats have repeatedly voted against funding the government.
During the past four years, Democrats have voted to pass 13 clean, short-term government funding bills. In March, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and nine other Democratic senators voted to advance a government funding bill — the exact same bill they are now rejecting.
At that time, Schumer warned that “while the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse.”
So, what changed? Democrats have decided to play political games.
Schumer and Senate Democrats’ counteroffer to fund the government is unserious. Their plan would fund the government for only a month, at a cost of $1.5 trillion. Their bill would reverse commonsense spending cuts and repeal safeguards that prevent abuse of Medicaid funds. Repealing these safeguards means that nearly $200 billion in healthcare could be spent on illegal aliens and noncitizens over the next decade.
Democrats claim their plan would protect healthcare and prevent rural hospitals from closing. That’s false. Republicans recently passed the largest investment in rural hospitals in U.S. history.
Their proposal includes a permanent expansion of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. These enhanced subsidies were passed by Democrats as a temporary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Wall Street Journal, these enhanced subsidies sent money to households earning up to $500,000 a year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that expanding these enhanced subsidies would cost $350 billion. These subsidies aren’t tailored to help those in need; they provide massive checks to wealthy households.
Democrats’ offer to reopen the government is not made in good faith. Their shutdown is about political games, not helping Americans. Schumer even admitted that he thinks the shutdown benefits his party politically, saying, “Every day gets better for us.”
But the American people see through these games. A recent Harvard-Harris poll found that 65% of Americans want Democrats to pass the clean continuing resolution rather than hold out for Obamacare subsidies. The same poll found that 70% of Americans were opposed to the government shutdown.
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This is not a game. Real families are facing real consequences. House Republicans did our job by passing a clean, short-term funding bill to keep the government open, protect paychecks, and prevent service disruptions.
It’s time for Senate Democrats to stop the political games and do the right thing. It’s time to end the shutdown.
Craig Goldman represents Texas’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.