“Families will be hurt. Farmers will be hurt. Border security and border patrol agents will not be paid. TSA agents will not be paid. Small businesses will be hurt in every single community.”

These words from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries effectively capture the devastating impact of a government shutdown.

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So, when Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and nearly every Democrat in Congress voted to shut the government down, we have to ask: What changed? What made them suddenly willing to inflict the very pain they once warned about?

WHITE HOUSE WARNS ‘IMMINENT’ LAYOFFS DUE TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

The answer is simple: Democrats forced a shutdown in an attempt to hurt President Donald Trump and force through a wish list of radical left-wing demands.

Two weeks ago, House Republicans acted responsibly. We passed a clean, bipartisan, short-term funding bill to keep the government operating. It was straightforward — no gimmicks, no partisan riders — just keeping essential services running at current levels and allowing more time to finish the appropriations process.

Instead of accepting that commonsense approach, Schumer and Jeffries rejected it, demanding concessions. They wanted more benefits for illegal immigrants, open borders, cuts to rural hospitals, a half-billion dollars for left-wing media, and $1.5 trillion in new wasteful spending.

They shut the government down for a failed agenda that Americans have overwhelmingly rejected.

The consequences of that choice are real and immediate. Service members miss paychecks. Veterans face delays in critical care. Families who rely on nutrition assistance are left in limbo. Wildland firefighters go without pay at the height of fire season. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers face disruptions that ripple through our airports. Small businesses on Main Street can’t get the loans they need to grow. Rural health clinics, mental health providers, and homeless veterans who rely on federal programs see support pulled out from under them.

All of this pain was avoidable. Republicans voted to keep the government open because we understand that stability matters — for seniors who depend on their benefits, for military families who rely on steady pay, for communities that need disaster relief, and for small businesses working to expand and hire.

Democrats made that stability a bargaining chip. That is not leadership. It is political hostage-taking.

LIVE UPDATES: GOVERNMENT ENTERS SHUTDOWN WITH NO DEAL IN SIGHT

The choice before Congress was clear: Keep the government open while we finish the appropriations process or force a shutdown that punishes the very people we were sent to serve. House Republicans voted to keep the government open. Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the Democrats chose to shut it down.

When seniors worry about their benefits, service members wonder about their paychecks, and families find doors closed at local programs, they should know that this was not inevitable. It was the Democrats’ choice, and it was the wrong one.

Lance Gooden represents Texas’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.