Senate Republicans are calling out Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) for spinning a tall tale about the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
This saga, which dragged on for over a month, finally ended Monday night when Senate Democrats passed a clean continuing resolution (CR) to get the government back up and running.
Breitbart reported that the shutdown kicked off with Democrats, including Sen. Hirono, digging in their heels, voting against reopening the government more than a dozen times.
Sen. Hirono herself cast 15 separate votes to keep the government shuttered, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by her GOP colleagues.
While federal workers missed paychecks and families struggled, Republicans pushed a straightforward CR to restore operations, only to face Democratic counterproposals stuffed with eyebrow-raising priorities.
Those proposals included hefty sums like $1.5 trillion in spending and millions for projects abroad—think $24.6 million for climate initiatives in Honduras and $3.9 million for specific democracy grants in the Western Balkans.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) didn’t mince words when detailing the Democrats’ wish list, which also earmarked $13.4 million for civic programs in Zimbabwe and $2 million for feminist organizing in Africa.
“They want to spend 24.6 million of your hard-earned dollars as a taxpayer for climate resilience in Honduras,” Johnson said, pointing out the disconnect between such spending and domestic needs during a crisis.
Johnson also noted plans for half a billion dollars to prop up liberal media through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a move that seems far from the urgent needs of stranded travelers and hungry families.
Sen. Hirono, meanwhile, tried to pin the blame elsewhere, claiming, “Families are going hungry, federal workers are missing paychecks, & Americans are being stranded in airports. This chaos is Republicans’ making.”
That statement drew a swift rebuttal from Senate Republicans, who pointed out her own voting record as evidence of who really prolonged the suffering.
“Senator Hirono voted 15 times against reopening the government, which includes SNAP funding and pay for air traffic controllers,” the Senate Republicans’ official X account fired back, exposing the contradiction in her narrative.
After weeks of gridlock, Senate Democrats finally relented on Monday night, passing a clean CR to end the shutdown and restore government functions.
While the resolution brought relief to many, the bitter taste of partisan posturing lingers, with Republicans arguing that the pain could have been avoided if Democrats had prioritized Americans over pet projects.
It’s a stark reminder of how Washington’s games can hit real people hard, and while the shutdown is over, the debate over accountability is just heating up. Let’s hope lessons are learned before the next standoff looms.