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Senator Joni Ernst made no apologies on Newsmax’s Wake Up America when she put the interest of American taxpayers first, bluntly saying that taxpayer dollars should fund health care for Americans only. Her message was as simple as it was patriotic: when the budget is tight, Washington’s first duty is to the citizens who pay the bills, not to expand benefits for people here illegally. This is the kind of straight talk Americans deserve from a senator who still remembers who she represents.
The backdrop is a bitter funding fight that has already pushed the federal government to the brink, with negotiations snarled over expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and other spending priorities. As the shutdown started to bite, lawmakers and the White House traded blame while everyday Americans watched services slow and federal employers face furloughs. Conservatives are right to point out that Washington’s reckless habit of treating every crisis as an excuse for more spending is what got us into this mess.
On the right, voices including Vice President JD Vance have accused Democrats of trying to force a shutdown in order to secure taxpayer-funded health benefits for people in the country illegally, and GOP leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson have pushed back against Democrat narratives about timing and responsibility. Those accusations aren’t partisan paranoia; they reflect real proposals and bargaining positions that would expand benefits at a time when budgets are strained and families are tightening their belts. Americans do not want their taxes used to create incentives for more illegal migration while our own citizens struggle to afford care.
Ernst’s stance is rooted in accountability and fiscal sanity: she has repeatedly pressed for rescissions and reviews of wasteful or overseas spending that gives little return to U.S. taxpayers. Her work with government efficiency efforts and calls for transparent accounting show conservatives are not anti-help for the needy, but pro-priority for citizens and veterans who have earned those benefits. If Washington can justify sending millions overseas for pool renovations and junkets while telling Americans to accept cuts, then the problem is not funding scarcity but misplaced priorities.
The human cost of a shutdown is real — delayed pay for troops, interruptions to small businesses that contract with the government, and service slowdowns that harm the most vulnerable Americans. That’s precisely why conservatives are demanding that funding and policy be structured to protect citizens first, not to create new entitlement pathways for noncitizens without public consent. Politics aside, protecting the livelihoods and health of Americans must be the nonnegotiable baseline for any budget.
Patriots across the heartland should applaud Ernst’s plainspoken leadership and pressure their representatives to follow suit: prioritize Americans, cut the waste, and stop treating taxpayer dollars like a blank check for global pet projects or political favors. Washington’s job is to serve its people, not to bankroll every progressive wish list or foreign vanity project while asking working families to sacrifice. If Republicans are serious about defending citizens and restoring fiscal responsibility, they will back Ernst’s common-sense demands and refuse to cave until the government’s first duty — caring for its own people — is secured.
