China is preparing for war. Iran is arming proxies across the Middle East. Russia continues its assault on Ukraine. And what are the Democrats doing? They’re forcing our military to stand down.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has orchestrated a government shutdown that is gutting military readiness when danger is at our doorstep. He is holding our national security hostage over reckless demands to hand out free healthcare to illegal immigrants and to explode our national debt. This is not just a budgetary dispute. This is sabotage.
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Since the shutdown began, military men and women in critical training have been pulled from their assignments mid-mission. Service members on temporary duty orders are being yanked back to their home units before completing their tasks, wasting taxpayer dollars and sacrificing readiness. Operations are disrupted. Equipment sits unrepaired. This isn’t just wasteful — it’s dangerous. While China and Russia forge ahead, the Left has our military standing down.
But the damage doesn’t end there. On Wednesday, 1.32 million service members will go without pay, including over 122,000 active duty service members in Virginia. Some 18,000 military children in Colorado will watch their parents go unpaid. The 42nd Infantry Division soldiers from New York, currently deployed to the Middle East, will serve without pay. These are real examples of the human cost of the Left’s political games. We’ve heard Democrats say they are concerned about military families, but they are voting against a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution that would get them paid. This is yet again empty rhetoric from those who claim to support our troops but refuse to pay them. Their price for funding our military? Free healthcare for illegal immigrants and hundreds of billions in reckless spending.
We’ve both served in combat and seen firsthand what happens when politicians interfere with military readiness. The consequences are severe, and our service members cannot afford this distraction. They must get back to work as scheduled.
Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that a shutdown would have a “dire” and “profound impact on the lives of our troops and civilians who work and sacrifice to defend this country every day.” Democrats agreed just a few years ago. What changed?
The answer is as cynical as it is infuriating: Political games matter more to Senate Democrats than military families. Republicans in the House passed a clean continuing resolution — a simple funding bill to keep the government open. And let’s be clear: This clean continuing resolution extends government funding at Biden-era levels, the same funding levels Democrats voted for a whopping 13 times. The offer is the same — what’s changed, however, is the man in the White House and the Democrats’ blind hatred of that man.
This is War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s moment to refocus the Pentagon on war-fighting readiness, yet Democrats are actively sabotaging that mission and enabling the most radical segments of their party that have long wanted to slash military spending. Our adversaries are watching. China is watching. Iran is watching. And they see an America hamstrung not by external threats, but by Senate Democrats who fear their radical base more than they fear America’s adversaries.
Both of us have served. We understand what it means when training stops, when readiness erodes, when troops can’t do their jobs, and when servicemembers can’t feed their children. We know the stakes when America’s military is not prepared.
Military families deserve better. Our troops deserve better. America deserves better.
Senate Democrats must stop playing political games and reopen the government immediately. Pass the clean continuing resolution that the House sent you. Pay our troops. Let them train. Let them prepare. Let them do what they volunteered to do: defend this nation.
Every day this shutdown continues is a day our enemies grow bolder and our military grows weaker. That is unacceptable, and the responsibility lies squarely with Senate Democrats who refuse to fund the very people who keep them safe. Republicans stand ready to reopen the government at a moment’s notice, but we will never allow our servicemen and women to be turned into political pawns used by the Democrats to achieve their dreams of giving free healthcare to illegal immigrants and exploding the national debt.
NDAA PASSES HOUSE WITH AMENDMENT TO REPEAL IRAQ WAR AUTHORIZATIONS
It’s time to choose. Politics or patriots. Illegal immigrants or military children.
The answer should be simple. Fund our military. Reopen the government. Stop the games.
Brian Mast represents Florida’s 21st Congressional District, is an Army veteran, and is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. August Pfluger represents Texas’s 11th Congressional District, is a 20-year Air Force fighter pilot now serving in the Air Force Reserve, and is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee.