House Majority Leader Steve Scalise made no attempt to mince words on Greta Van Susteren’s program, bluntly saying Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should “end his tantrum” and reopen the government now that a clean, short-term funding bill has been sent to the Senate. Scalise framed this not as partisan theater but as a basic duty to working Americans who rely on federal services and pay the bills.
Republicans in the House moved weeks ago to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded for another two months while negotiations continue, yet Senate Democrats refused to join that common-sense step — a move Scalise and other GOP leaders call the Schumer shutdown. That refusal forced a shutdown to begin on October 1, 2025, a predictable result of Democrats putting ideology ahead of governance.
Scalise didn’t stop at rhetoric; he accused Senate Democrats of holding the American people hostage to far-left policy demands, including funding for healthcare for illegal immigrants and cuts in rural hospital funding that would devastate heartland communities. This is exactly the kind of elite-driven priorities that fly in the face of voters’ demands for fiscal responsibility and protecting American citizens first.
The real victims here are not the politicians grandstanding on cable; they are federal employees, veterans waiting for services, and small businesses that depend on predictable government contracts. The economic harm of a shutdown is immediate and real, and it is shameful that Senate leaders would risk livelihoods to score partisan points while Americans suffer.
Conservative leaders are right to demand Schumer drop the tantrum, accept the House’s clean stopgap, and get back to real negotiations without ransom demands. Patriots across the country should call their senators and tell them they will not tolerate this kind of political hostage-taking; if Democrats won’t put country over caucus, voters must put pressure on them at the ballot box.
