‘Educate Yourselves’ - Guest Opinion

Parker Malphrus, SC - Guest Writer

You may have heard me say this in the Nov. 12 debate, and I would be happy to enlighten y'all on how this budget works. The Schumer shutdown has been going on for over a month now, and there was a proposal that was voted on multiple times that Democrats voted against. 

​Firstly, some background on how the Senate works. A filibuster is in place for most contested bills, except for reconciliation bills. If a bill is contested, meaning one senator can hold a bill up, it would need a cloture vote to pass. This cloture vote needs 60 Senators to vote in favor for passage. The Republicans hold 53 seats, and 52 members of our caucus support it, so in theory, we need 8 democrats to vote with us to reopen the government. It is also worth noting that this is only a vote to proceed to debate on the bill. Y'all are literally scared to even debate. How odd.

The proposed continuing resolution would maintain current spending levels and is intended to keep the government open. The Democrats have voted under Biden 13 times for a clean CR like this one. This time, however, something is off; they refuse to vote on it, citing concerns with ACA subsidies. We should not allow Democrats to use this as leverage to pander to the far left. 

In regard to the constant comments from Senate Dems over the Affordable Care Act subsidies, this is false, as with a Continuing resolution, the subsidies cannot be added to the CR, so why hold up vital funding for people? 

However, Democrats have openly and stupidly admitted that they are using the laid-off people running out of benefits for leverage. 

"I mean, shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously,” Kathrine Clark (D-Mass.) stated. “But it is one of the few leverage times we have.”

You claim to care about people and care about snap benefits, yet y'all won't get off your butts and vote to open the government; spare me the lecture, please. 

​Finally, and probably worst of all, our troops are going without pay, as well as air traffic controllers and TSA agents. As we prepare to fly home for Thanksgiving, I hope y'all like delays – cause the fault is squarely on you. 

​I don't love to play the blame game; however, you could stand to educate yourselves on how the budget works, and don't blindly follow your party. The blame is placed squarely on today's Democratic Party. All because your party has pandered to the far left, and even the Democrat leader can't vote for it, as he is terrified of a primary challenge from one of the socialists taking over the left. It is very unfortunate to see this occur, as the Democrat party is pandering once again to the far left, proven by the election of a communist earlier this month to serve as mayor of the biggest city in the US. 

So Democrats, stop holding up vital funding for your constituents and vote for a clean CR that you've voted for 15 times. Oh, wait, that's right, y’all won't because you can't stand for Trump to sign anything. The partisan divisiveness should stop, and the American people could actually win if that happens. But instead, y'all chose to play politics with people's lives. We will see how that works out for you. See you at the polls in 2026, and don't forget to EDUCATE YOURSELVES.