Sen. Ashley Moody put the truth plainly on national television: this shutdown would have ended a long time ago if Congress stopped cashing paychecks while the rest of America went without. Moody has even pledged to donate her own taxpayer-funded salary for every day the government remains closed, a rare act of principle in an era of political theater where elites collect pay while Americans suffer. Her message is simple and patriotic — lawmakers must feel the pain they impose before they’ll do the right thing.
This standoff isn’t abstract — it has real victims. The Senate recently failed to advance a bill that would restore pay to hundreds of thousands of federal workers affected by the shutdown, and services Americans rely on are fraying as furloughs and staffing shortages spread across agencies. The political calculus is ugly: Washington insiders posture about policy while men and women who keep airports, law enforcement and public health running are left scrambling.
Conservatives are right to demand accountability. There’s historic precedent for tying pay to performance and to responsibility, and Moody’s support for legislation to make shutdowns impossible — automatic continuing resolutions that prevent a government halt — is a common-sense reform that would spare families this abuse. If Congress won’t govern responsibly, then Congress shouldn’t be rewarded with full pay while it refuses to do the job voters sent them to do.
Make no mistake who is prolonging this crisis. Negotiations are bogged down over sweeping healthcare demands and partisan add-ons, and Democrats in the Senate have insisted on subsidy extensions before agreeing to a clean reopening. That posture turns the federal budget into hostage-taking, and it’s ordinary Americans — not the paid politicians — who pay the price. Leadership means putting government back to work first and debating policy second; anything less is cowardice.
Meanwhile, the administration’s own legal posture has injected even more cruelty into the mix by suggesting many furloughed workers might not automatically receive back pay, leaving families in desperation and eroding trust in our institutions. This willingness to leave workers in limbo while debating pay for politicians underscores how broken the system has become; it’s proof we need firm rules so Washington can’t weaponize people’s livelihoods. Those who claim this is only about principle should try telling that to an air-traffic controller or a federal law-enforcement officer worried about feeding their kids.
Sen. Moody’s approach — donate your paycheck, stop the shutdowns permanently, and force Congress to act like adults — is the kind of leadership voters respect. Conservatives should rally behind reforms that end shutdown brinkmanship, cut the theatrics, and restore common sense to budgeting. If politicians won’t voluntarily forgo their pay when they break government, we must pass laws that make them accountable; America deserves no less.
Hardworking Americans are watching, and they remember who stood with them and who treated their hardship as a bargaining chip. It’s time voters demand a Capitol that earns its paycheck, not one that treats pay as a consolation prize for incompetence. Until then, every patriot should back leaders who put sacrifice before selfies and responsibility before headlines.
