November 2 2025
FROM CONGRESSMAN NICK LANGWORTHY:
| We are now on Day 33 of the Schumer Shutdown — and families across America are paying the price for a crisis that never should have happened. Federal workers have missed another paycheck. SNAP benefits have expired for more than 42 million Americans, leaving parents scrambling to feed their children. Our law enforcement officers remain in limbo, and rural hospitals are being forced to scale back critical services.
All of it is totally preventable. The House has already done its job. I voted to fully fund the government and keep essential services running — without gimmicks, without poison pills, and without partisan riders. The bill we passed was the same bipartisan framework Democrats supported more than a dozen times before. But Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, have blocked that funding 13 times — choosing political theater over public service. Thirteen separate times they have chosen to vote against reopening the government and funding SNAP benefits, which helps feed vulnerable families. In an attempt to justify their politically craven actions, Schumer and other Democrats have called for using a $6 billion emergency contingency fund to continue issuing benefits, despite the fact that the funding has run out. It makes a great sound bite, but federal counsel has said repeatedly that it is illegal to use emergency contingency funds that are designed for things like a hurricane or other federal disaster. Nowhere in the definition of federal emergency is a contingency for Chuck Schumer’s temper tantrum. Congress has the power of the purse, which makes it unlawful for any federal agency to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated and currently all appropriations are expired. President Trump has tried to be as creative as possible to keep our troops paid and WIC funded for mothers and children—and I applaud those efforts—but the best solution isn’t engaging in legal jujitsu, it’s reopening the government and doing our jobs. Even if those funds were allowed to be used, it still wouldn’t even fully cover one distribution. This problem doesn’t go away, it gets prolonged. The selfish nonsense needs to stop. I have begun looking at legislative solutions to end these partisan practices of hostage-taking surrounding events like funding deadlines and debt ceilings. We need a long-term solution that ends the games of using Americans for leverage to win a political fight. I will keep you posted as my work develops, but in the meantime, I’ll continue fighting to reopen the government immediately and protect the hardworking citizens who pay the bills in this country. You deserve nothing less. Sincerely, |
