Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) isn’t playing these Washington clown games. It wasn’t your typical political smackdown—it was a gentlemanly Bayou beatdown when he calmly laid out what Democrats are demanding to “reopen” the government.
Spoiler alert: their wish list is a left-wing fever dream. They’re pushing billions in woke pet projects, bloated bureaucracy, and—get this—$1.5 trillion in health care for illegal immigrants. That’s right, while American families are still struggling with remnants of Bidenflation, Democrats are more interested in funding pronoun training sessions and open-border giveaways than securing the border or cutting spending.
Johnson didn’t mince words. He pointed out that Democrats are demanding millions in taxpayer money for global warming nonsense, grants for LGBT programs in the Balkans, and—because no leftist spending spree is complete—a few million more for feminist pet projects in Africa.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Those are three line items out of a $5 billion woke boondoggle that has nothing to do with running the U.S. government and everything to do with virtue signaling to the global elite. While American families are tightening their belts, Democrats are trying to funnel your tax dollars overseas to fund their ideological hobbyhorses.
Johnson’s message was clear: not one more dime for this kind of nonsense:
The price tag isn’t even the real issue here—it’s the poison pills buried inside the Democrats’ proposal. They know full well Republicans won’t touch this woke wishlist, and that’s exactly the point. This isn’t about governing—it’s about keeping the government shut down to score political points and blame the GOP.
Republicans, for their part, have put a clean, seven-week continuing resolution on the table. No partisan riders. No GOP wish-list items. Just a simple extension at Biden-era spending levels, giving Congress time to hammer out the twelve appropriations bills and tackle expiring health care subsidies in December. Everything Democrats said they supported before is still there.
So let’s be clear: Democrats own this shutdown. They’re dragging their feet because they think it plays well politically. But it won’t. The American people see through it. The left would rather keep the government closed until after their little “No Kings” protest rally wraps up this weekend than actually do their jobs. It’s cynical, it’s petty, but it’s proof that Democrats are holding the country hostage over their own radical agenda.