Friends,

Three weeks ago today, the House passed a bipartisan bill to keep the government funded through November 21. Because Senate Democrats continue to block that clean continuing resolution in the Senate — voting against it seven times now — the federal government has now been shut down for 10 days. Many critical federal workers, including our military, air traffic controllers, TSA agents and our border patrol will soon miss paychecks.

Shamelessly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Congressional Democrats are using these workers as leverage for their demands of $1.5 trillion in reckless spending. Earlier this week, Schumer admitted they are playing political games with these employees’ livelihoods:

Senator Schumer and his allies think scoring political points and appeasing their most radical members is more important than reopening our government, paying our troops and other essential workers. They can reopen the government immediately by ending their blockade, passing the House’s continuing resolutions and allowing the regular appropriations process to move forward.

I have cosponsored the Pay Our Troops Act, which would ensure that our men and women in uniform would continue to get paid during government shutdowns and not used as political pawns in future budget disputes. I am supporting similar legislation to keep paying our air traffic controllers.

While the Senate remains gridlocked on the government-funding bill, I am grateful that last night they took up and passed their version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual legislative package to authorize funding for every aspect of our military for the upcoming year.

The Senate adopted an amendment that I worked on along with Sen. Moran that will improve veterans’ access to care at Department of Defense healthcare facilities like Irwin Army Community Hospital at Ft. Riley.

The House passed its version of the NDAA last month. House and Senate Armed Services Committee leadership will now work on resolving the differences between the bills and present a final version for both chambers to vote on in the coming weeks.

As a reminder, my offices in Washington, Topeka and Pittsburg remain open, despite the shutdown, and available to help with federal agencies including the VA, Social Security, and the IRS.

Regrettably, our ability to help with some of these situations may be affected, as many departments and agencies will not be processing casework during the shutdown. However, that work will resume once federal funding is resolved. If you are experiencing an issue with a federal agency, please call my office at (785) 205-5253 or fill out the form on our website, and we will work with you on the paperwork that must be completed so we can file your case as soon as we are able.

During my time in Washington this week, I was pleased to welcome Kansans from the Nature Conservancy, as well as representatives from Proctor and Gamble, which operates a facility in Kansas City, Kansas.