Op-Ed: Rep. Scott Franklin: The Democrats’ filibuster comes at America’s expense

Rather than focus on restoring funding for our troops and federal workers, Senate Democrats keep making unrelated demands, Rep. Scott Franklin argues in his latest op-ed.

We are now more than two weeks into the government shutdown with no end in sight. Much of what Americans are hearing from the media is misleading. This shutdown is not the result of Republicans refusing to negotiate. It is the result of Senate Democrats playing political games while American families and federal workers pay the price.

House Republicans and one Democrat voted on September 19^th to keep the government fully funded. We passed a clean continuing resolution to prevent a shutdown, keeping funding roughly flat through November 21. This bill also extended critical programs like Women and Infant Children (WIC) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which expired on September 30^th. Senate Democrats continue to block it in the upper chamber.

Rather than focus on restoring funding for our troops and federal workers, Senate Democrats keep making unrelated demands. Their primary excuse to keep the government shut down accuses Republicans of failing to negotiate on healthcare. That claim is a red herring. The Obamacare subsidies they cite were an emergency measure designed to help families locked down during the pandemic. They are scheduled to expire at the end of the year and were never intended to be part of the short-term spending bill.

This false narrative is meant to distract from Democratic infighting and appease progressive activists pressuring Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to “hold the line” against President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. Instead of standing up to his far-left base, Schumer caved and manufactured a crisis.

The damage is real. The Schumer Shutdown has already cost the economy more than $30 billion in lost GDP and $4.4 billion in wasted taxpayer dollars. More than 1.3 million troops risk missing paychecks and millions of women and children could lose access to nutritional assistance if this continues.

In flood-prone regions of the country, the consequences are especially severe. Expiration of the NFIP means new and renewal flood policies cannot be issued while the shutdown drags on. That leaves families unable to close on new homes, existing policyholders in limbo and entire coastal communities vulnerable during peak storm season.

This stalemate could end immediately. If just five more Senate Democrats put country over politics, they could join Republicans and vote to reopen the government and allow Congress to complete our appropriations process through regular order.

We must keep fighting to restore fiscal responsibility and ensure a strong national security with clear accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent. Our service members, civil servants and families deserve better than being used as pawns in partisan games.

It is time to end this shutdown and ensure our government works for the American people.

Congressman Scott Franklin represents Florida’s 18th Congressional District and serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.