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House Speaker Mike Johnson made clear on Fox News’ Sunday program that Republicans are pushing a short-term funding plan because Democrats are playing political games rather than governing. Johnson argued the showdown isn’t about policy substance so much as one party’s desire to thwart President Trump’s agenda, a charge he’s used repeatedly as Democrats press for policy riders tied to any stopgap.
The immediate context is stark: Congress faces an October 1, 2025 deadline to fund the government, and while the House GOP has passed a stopgap to extend funding, Senate Democrats are conditioning agreement on demands like extending Obamacare subsidies. That standoff means both parties are racing to a meeting called by President Trump as negotiations intensify and the prospect of a shutdown looms.
Johnson has repeatedly pushed for a clean continuing resolution to buy time for the appropriations process to run its course, insisting Democrats have “no excuse” if they refuse to keep the government open. Restoring regular order in appropriations is a sensible goal, and yet Democrats insist on attaching policy changes that guarantee gridlock and brinksmanship instead of compromise.
Conservatives watching this know what’s happening: when you weaponize must-pass funding to extract unrelated concessions, you aren’t negotiating—you’re extorting the nation’s operations for political advantage. Speaker Johnson’s campaign to highlight past Democratic rhetoric against shutdowns is more than spin; it exposes a two-faced strategy from leaders eager to blame Republicans while orchestrating the crisis themselves.
President Trump’s intervention to convene leaders is the right move at a critical moment; executive-level pressure can break stalemates that Congress has made a habit of celebrating. If Democrats are serious about averting harm to federal workers, services, and national security, they will back a clean, short-term extension and take the policy fights to regular order — not hold the country hostage for headlines.
A shutdown would not be an abstract political point; it would shutter vital services, delay grants and enforcement, and harm everyday Americans who rely on federal programs and federal paychecks. That is the human cost of partisan brinksmanship, and it’s the very reason sensible leaders on both sides should reject leverage politics in favor of responsible stewardship.
The larger lesson is plain: Washington can’t be allowed to normalize hostage politics where one party’s electoral fears dictate whether the lights stay on. Lawmakers ought to put governing ahead of scoring points, pass a clean stopgap so work can continue, and then sort out the big debates transparently through the appropriations process.
If Democrats continue to insist on turning must-pass funding into a tool to shield political allies and blunt conservative reforms, history will judge them as choosing power over people. The country deserves better than performative brinkmanship; it deserves politicians willing to govern, not grandstand.
