U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) believes the blame for the current federal government shutdown lies squarely with the current leadership of the Democratic Party.

The federal government shutdown Wednesday morning as the Senate has rejected rival measures to keep the funding going.

Aderholt, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, called out the Democrats for being dishonest during the negotiations.

“Let’s be completely clear, this has happened because Democrats rejected a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would have kept the government running for another two months,” Aderholt explained. “All summer, Democrats said they would support a CR if it was clean and had no ‘poison pills.’ House leadership took this input from Democrats and delivered just that, a clean CR. In what has become typical fashion, Democrats moved the goalposts and demanded a trillion dollars in government spending in order to keep the government open.”

The U.S. House already passed a Republican stopgap Continuing Resolution earlier this month that would fund the government through November 21.

“Some have claimed that because Republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House, this is a so-called ‘Republican shutdown,’” Aderholt continued. “What that ignores is the fact that Senate Democrats are refusing to allow a vote. If they would simply allow the measure to come to the floor, the continuing resolution would pass and the government would remain open.”

The congressman said he does not want the government to be shut down, but also will not support the increase in spending that the Democrats are currently demanding.

“I do not support holding the government of the United States, and therefore the people of the United States, hostage in order to force more reckless spending that we do not have the money to pay for,” he argued.” Democrats say they want to negotiate and that’s fine. I support that. But why do they think government services must be stopped? A two-month CR would serve both purposes – giving us time to work out spending for next year, while still allowing government services to stay up and running while also continuing to ensure that government employees like our military members get paid on time.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee