admin
Senator Joni Ernst appeared on The Record with Greta Van Susteren this week and struck a frankly American tone: weary of the partisan theater, she urged colleagues to “pray we can all get along” and to push the funding across the finish line before the January 30 deadline. Her plea sounded like the voice of the heartland — tired of Washington games and focused on keeping the lights on for hardworking families and the troops who serve our nation.
That sense of urgency mattered because the Senate has been scrambling to avert a full-blown crisis, advancing a continuing resolution that would fund the government through Jan. 30 while some agencies receive longer appropriations. After bruising negotiations and procedural votes, lawmakers finally moved a package intended to end the shutdown and buy time for responsible spending talks.
The House followed up, voting to fund the government and restore pay to furloughed federal employees, and the bill’s passage cleared the way for a signing that would reopen services millions depend on. For real Americans who woke up to shuttered services and paycheck uncertainty, this wasn’t a political victory so much as a necessary fix to the damage partisan brinkmanship caused.
Make no mistake: Democrats tried to use critical services as bargaining chips, demanding policy changes and extensions of pandemic-era subsidies as the price to reopen government. That tactic is both cynical and reckless — sacrificing everyday Americans for narrow political wins — and it’s exactly why conservatives who pushed for a clean, short-term solution were right to insist on stopping the harm now.
Sen. Ernst’s plain-spoken call to get the job done should remind voters that the difference between responsible governance and chaos comes down to priorities. Conservatives have been consistent: fund what’s necessary, protect the military and benefits recipients, and then negotiate reforms without holding the country hostage.
If this episode teaches anything, it’s that Washington needs fewer theatrics and more results for the American people. Patriots across the country should applaud lawmakers who put service above scoring points, and they should remember which side of the aisle fought to stop the pain for families, federal workers, and our armed forces. Let’s hope leaders heed Ernst’s plea, finish the work, and move on to substantive reforms that restore fiscal responsibility and common-sense priorities to our federal government.
