House Speaker Mike Johnson went on Fox’s airwaves this week to sound the alarm about a looming government shutdown, telling viewers that Washington’s usual games must stop and the people’s business must be kept open. He made it plain that Republicans want a clean, short-term funding measure to buy time for real reforms rather than submit to Democrat policy ransom. Johnson’s blunt message — that keeping the government running is nonnegotiable — should remind Americans which side is trying to govern.
The hard truth is the federal funding deadline has arrived and, unless Congress acts, agencies face a shutdown as the fiscal year flips to October 1. Senate Democrats blocked a Republican stopgap, turning routine budget negotiations into a political spectacle that risks furloughing public servants and disrupting vital programs. Ordinary Americans will pay the price for this Washington theatre, not the partisan leaders who manufactured the crisis.
What Republicans are asking for is simple: a short-term continuing resolution to keep the lights on while debates about healthcare subsidies and longer-term policy proceed on the merits, not as hostage-taking. Democrats, led by their leaders in the House and Senate, insist on tying unrelated demands to funding and are willing to watch services get cut to score political points. This is exactly the kind of brinkmanship that betrays working families and must be called out for what it is.
Speaker Johnson rightly pointed to the cynical nature of this standoff, accusing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of wanting the fight more than they want a functioning government. If true, that reveals a contempt for the very institutions they claim to protect — turning programs for mothers, infants, disaster relief, and even troop pay into bargaining chips. Americans should be outraged that party theatrics are being prioritized over service to country.
Republicans in the House have offered a path to keep the government open, and Johnson has repeatedly said he believes there are enough votes to pass a clean funding bill and avert chaos. The sensible course is to accept a temporary, no-strings funding extension now, then use the extra time to cut waste, secure the border, and restore fiscal sanity without surrendering to demands that expand entitlement spending. That is conservative governance: protect essential functions, rein in runaway spending, and keep promises to taxpayers.
Hardworking Americans deserve leadership that puts country over caucus, sanity over spectacle. Speaker Johnson is right to push for a pragmatic stopgap and refuse to let Democrats weaponize federal funding for political advantage. If Washington cannot deliver that simple decency, voters should remember who chose chaos over compromise and hold them accountable at the ballot box.
