Washington’s priorities are backward — and veterans know it



When Washington shuts down, it doesn’t just stall politics — it shakes the lives of America’s veterans. At the outset of the government shutdown last month, a veteran named James called VetComm in tears. His question was simple but heartbreaking: “Will I still get paid next week? Because I can’t afford groceries if I don’t.”

James served his country with honor. Yet he worried about feeding his family because Democrats in Washington insist on prioritizing illegal immigrants over the very men and women who defended this nation.

Enough is enough. Stop putting illegal immigrants ahead of the heroes who built and defended this country.

I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for veterans like James — those who bled for this country, only to watch so-called representatives in Washington bend over backward for people who entered it illegally. With this latest government shutdown, Democrats have again slammed the door on veterans while rolling out the red carpet for illegal aliens.

A manufactured crisis

For over a month, Democrats held the entire nation hostage, demanding a $1.5 trillion, poison-pill-stuffed funding bill that includes “free health care” for illegal aliens while programs for veterans teeter on the brink. It’s not just reckless — it’s cruel. These are the same priorities that helped drive a 19% spike in veteran homelessness while illegal migrants got luxury hotel rooms on the taxpayer’s dime.

As the shutdown ends, the facts are clear. The House passed a clean continuing resolution to keep the lights on, maintain VA funding, and avoid chaos. But Senate Democrats — led by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York — rejected it, choosing to plunge the country into an unnecessary shutdown to appease their left-wing base.

The Democrats’ alternative was loaded with giveaways: subsidies for illegal immigrants’ doctor visits, hospital stays, and “health care rights,” while hundreds of thousands of veterans remain stuck on VA wait lists — some dying before they’re seen.

Staggering hypocrisy

Schumer once said avoiding a shutdown “is very good news for the country, for our veterans … all of whom would have felt the sting.” More recently, he warned that “a shutdown would mean chaos and pain and needless heartache for the American people.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared, “It is not normal to shut down the government when we don’t get what we want.” Jeffries said shutdowns are "about the harm.”

Those very same politicians ended up leading one — weaponizing activist wish lists and pet projects against the GOP and the nation.

RELATED: Disabled vets denied dignity as VA claim backlog becomes unbearable

Johnrob via iStock/Getty Images

This pattern of betrayal isn’t new. Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the VA was caught reimbursing health care for illegal immigrants and their families, draining resources from veterans. I’ve seen it firsthand in San Diego — hotels packed with migrants while homeless veterans sleep on sidewalks, dodging needles and despair.

Over 10 million illegal crossings have occurred under the Biden administration’s watch. The result: big money for migrants, broken promises for veterans. The audacity to continue putting invaders ahead of patriots is shocking — and unforgivable.

The real human cost

Everyone knows a shutdown hurts troops, veterans, and families. Yet Democrats embraced it anyway, in service to radical ideology over national duty. Americans overwhelmingly oppose this madness.

Enough is enough. Stop putting illegal immigrants ahead of the heroes who built and defended this country. It’s time to restore sanity and start prioritizing America again.

At VetComm, we see the toll every day. The sleepless nights. The panic over missed paychecks. The spiraling PTSD and anxiety triggered by uncertainty. Veterans have already given everything; they shouldn’t have to fight their own government for stability and dignity.

Our mission is simple: Stand in the gap for those who stood for us. We help veterans understand their rights, claim the benefits they earned, and remember that their service still matters. A shutdown tests that mission — but it also steels our resolve.

Because while Washington bickers, we will keep fighting for every veteran, every day, not just Veterans Day.

Trump uses tariff revenue to protect poor mothers and kids hurt by Democrats' shutdown



Using the revenue of some of the tariffs that liberal critics have fought vigorously, President Donald Trump has helped vulnerable American mothers and, in the process, neutralized some of Democrats' supposed "leverage" in what is nearly the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) recently admitted that while the Democrat-induced government shutdown has been painful for families across the country, it is somehow necessary because "it is one of the few leverage times [Democrats] have."

In their quest for leverage, Democrats have jeopardized critical food assistance and health care for the nearly seven million poor American pregnant mothers, breastfeeding mothers, infants, and at-risk children who rely on the special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program known as WIC.

'American families deserve certainty from their government.'

The WIC program, which received roughly $7 billion in fiscal year 2024, is federally funded through the annual appropriations process. The National WIC Association warned last month that unless additional funding was injected into the program, millions of families would lose their benefits as of Nov. 1.

"NWA is calling on the White House to make additional emergency funds available to avoid a short-term crisis for the millions of American families who count on WIC while Congress negotiates full-year funding for FY 2026," Georgia Machell, president of the NWA, said in an Oct. 21 statement.

"WIC is a lifeline for nearly 7 million pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children. Even short-term disruption to WIC’s healthy food benefits, lactation support, nutrition education, screenings, and referrals can have long-term negative impacts on families," added Machell.

On Friday, the Trump administration tapped a fund of unused Section 232 tariff revenue in order to make $450 million available for the WIC program, reported Reuters.

RELATED: Here are the 4 Republicans who betrayed Trump AGAIN, joining Democrats to undermine the MAGA agenda

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Federal funding records reportedly show that the money was transferred to the WIC program on Friday from the tariff revenue fund, which was made available to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for commodity disaster assistance. The USDA drew $300 million from the same fund last month to keep the WIC program liquid.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated last month, "The Trump White House will not allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry because of the Democrats' political games."

Machell noted in the wake of the White House's rescue of the program that "this additional funding is a welcome relief, but it is a stopgap, not a solution," stressing the need for an end to the shutdown.

"American families deserve certainty from their government, not the constant anxiety of short-term fixes, especially when their children's health is at stake," said Machell.

While the administration swooped in to bolster the WIC program, it did not similarly drain its pool of tariff revenues to fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, having indicated that it lacks the authority to use emergency funds for SNAP.

Not only did the transfer temporarily deprive Democrats of the ability to use American pain as political leverage, it served as yet another point in favor of Trump's tariffs.

House Democrats prophesied in April that Trump's tariff policy would lead to economic collapse. Even though such calamity has yet to manifest, Senate Democrats passed resolutions last week to eliminate some of the president's global and country-specific tariffs, namely those imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

According to an Oct. 31 report from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank focused on tax policy, "Trump's imposed tariffs will raise $2.4 trillion in revenue over the next decade on a conventional basis" and had raised $174 billion in revenue between January and September of this year.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Expect Misleading Headlines About The Big Beautiful Bill Leaving 10 Million Americans ‘Uninsured’

The idea that this provision would somehow 'increase the uninsured' seems, if not laughable, at least highly speculative.

Trump admin making sure illegal aliens don't get food stamps



The Trump administration is working to eliminate the monetary incentive for foreign nationals to steal into the country and to pressure noncitizens presently exploiting citizen supports to wean off or get packing.

Pursuant to President Donald Trump's Feb. 19 executive order "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders," the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now taking steps to ensure that illegal aliens cannot get their hands on food stamps.

"President Trump has made it clear that American taxpayers will no longer subsidize illegal aliens," USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a Thursday statement.

"We are stewards of taxpayer dollars, and it is our duty to ensure states confirm the identity and verify the immigration status of SNAP applicants," continued Rollins. "USDA's nutrition programs are intended to support the most vulnerable Americans. To allow those who broke our laws by entering the United States illegally to receive these benefits is outrageous."

The USDA issued guidance on Thursday to state SNAP agencies nationwide setting out the minimum expectations for eligibility verification to prevent "ineligible aliens" from participating in the program.

Only American citizens and certain lawfully present noncitizens, including individuals granted asylum, are eligible for SNAP benefits. However, the U.S Government Accountability Office noted in a September 2024 report that an estimated 11.7% or $10.5 billion of SNAP benefits paid out by the USDA in fiscal year 2023 "were the wrong amount or otherwise should not have been made."

The report indicated that "states made improper payments related to SNAP mainly because they did not verify recipients' eligibility for program benefits." States apparently often failed to verify whether recipients were citizens or lawfully present noncitizens.

The Center for Immigration Studies revealed in a December 2023 report that 48% of "illegal-headed households" used food welfare programs.

'Taxpayer-funded benefits should be only for eligible taxpayers.'

As of 2022, American taxpayers were on the hook for at least $182 billion annually to provide services and benefits to illegal aliens and their dependents, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The new USDA guidance requires state agencies to:

  • verify the identity of the applicant, ideally before confirming their immigration status;
  • collect and verify Social Security numbers for all household members applying for SNAP benefits;
  • compare SSNs to the Social Security Agency's Death Master File database and ensure the SSN belongs to the applicant; and
  • check alien applications against the Department of Homeland Security Systematic Alien Verification System for Entitlements — which DHS Secretary Kristi Noem advised governors last week is now available to states for free — to ensure eligibility.

The guidance provided other recommendations and advised state agencies that the Food and Nutrition Service "will assess the effectiveness of identity and immigration status verification practices in regular management evaluations for program compliance."

The USDA issued the new guidance just a week after Trump issued a memo directing his administration to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving taxpayer funds from Social Security Act programs, including Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Blaze News previously reported that the memo directed the Social Security Administration to expand its fraud prosecutor programs, investigate earning reports of individuals supposedly 100 years or older with mismatched records, consider reinstating its civil monetary penalty program, and reinforce program integrity measures so only eligible foreign nationals can receive benefits.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on April 15, "These taxpayer-funded benefits should be only for eligible taxpayers."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Weak Republicans may derail Tennessee’s bold move against illegal immigration



We either make illegal immigration illegal — or we stop pretending.

For years, we’ve claimed to oppose illegal immigration while offering taxpayer-funded benefits to those here unlawfully. If life in the United States became less accommodating, many would choose to leave on their own. A logical first step: Stop offering free public education to those who entered the country illegally. That policy has flooded our schools with linguistic chaos, cultural fragmentation, and administrative strain.

Denying free education to those in the country illegally is not a punishment — it’s a refusal to provide benefits to people who have no legal claim to them.

Tennessee is the first state in recent memory to move in the direction of sanity.

Last Thursday, the Tennessee Senate passed SB 836, sponsored by state Sen. Bo Watson (R). The original bill would have required school districts to verify legal residency before enrolling any student. The amended version gives school districts the option to deny enrollment to illegal immigrants or charge a base tuition of $7,000 per student.

The bill passed 19-13 but not before seven Republicans joined all six Democrats in voting to continue free tuition for illegal aliens.

A companion bill, HB 793, is making its way through the House. That version is tougher. It gives districts the authority to deny admission outright and requires them to report undocumented students to the state. Both bills allow families to stay enrolled while appealing a denial. But critically, both also include an opt-out provision — meaning districts with large illegal populations, like Memphis and Nashville, will likely choose not to enforce the law at all.

Target: Plyler v. Doe

This should be an easy one. It’s a disgrace that we continue offering free tuition to the children of illegal immigrants — all because of a flawed 43-year-old Supreme Court ruling. The public would have demanded action decades ago if not for the court’s intervention. Texas, in fact, did act — until Justice William Brennan invented a constitutional right to taxpayer-funded education for illegal aliens in the 1982 decision Plyler v. Doe.

That ruling flatly contradicts a long line of Supreme Court precedents dating back to the 1880s. For more than a century, the court consistently held that illegal aliens stand outside our legal boundaries until they are granted lawful status. In other words, they are not entitled to constitutional protections reserved for citizens or legal residents.

Even if we accept the dubious logic of judicial supremacy, states have every reason to mount a fresh challenge. The Supreme Court has shifted rightward since the days of Brennan’s activist bench. It’s time to put Plyler back on the chopping block.

If Republicans truly believe illegal immigration must end, they should act accordingly. That means removing the incentives to stay here unlawfully. Cutting off free benefits should be the first step, not the last.

Yet, too many Republicans still treat education as a separate, sacred category. Senate Speaker Pro Tem Ferrell Haile, a Republican from Gallatin, voted against the Tennessee bill and tried to justify his position by misapplying Ezekiel 18:19: “The child will not share the guilt of the parent nor the parent share the guilt of the child.” He said, “I believe that we are punishing children for the wrongdoing of their parents.”

Haile’s reasoning is flawed. Denying free education to those in the country illegally is not a punishment — it’s a refusal to provide benefits to people who have no legal claim to them. If the goal is deportation, why should we subsidize their continued presence? No one is proposing to imprison children for their parents’ actions. We’re proposing to send them home.

Republicans claim to support President Trump’s immigration agenda. But if we intend to remove illegal aliens from the country, it makes no sense to pack public schools with hundreds of thousands of noncitizens who require costly language and academic support. The only children being punished under this system are the children of American citizens — the ones to whom our elected officials owe their allegiance.

An uncertain fate

If Haile and other lukewarm Republicans in red states feel so strongly about educating illegal aliens, they are free to open schools overseas and fund them privately. But they have no right to do it at the expense of American families.

So far this year, only Texas, Indiana, Idaho, and Ohio have introduced similar legislation. None of those bills appear likely to pass. Other red states, like Florida, face constitutional hurdles that make it difficult to deny public school admission to anyone living in the state — regardless of legal status.

Even in its watered-down form, the Tennessee bill’s fate remains uncertain. Gov. Bill Lee (R) has yet to signal whether he’ll sign it. Like many Republican governors, Lee often talks tough but governs soft. He’s not known for favoring strong immigration enforcement.

If he vetoes the bill, conservatives likely won’t have the two-thirds majority needed to override him, thanks to multiple GOP defections. He has remained silent while the legislative session barrels toward its end next week. Time is running out for the House to pass its version and reconcile it with the Senate’s.

With federal mass deportation efforts stalled, red states need standing deterrents. The next time a Democrat takes the White House and unleashes a fresh wave of illegal immigration, we need policies in place to keep that flood away from inundating states that still value sovereignty.

That starts with ending incentives — especially taxpayer-funded benefits like public education. Letting illegal aliens tap into the same resources as citizens sends exactly the wrong message.

Touch the third rail, save Social Security — before it’s too late



The Social Security Trust Fund is in far worse shape than most Americans realize. Yet both political parties refuse to confront it. Why? Because addressing Social Security is considered “touching the third rail” — a phrase meant to invoke the political equivalent of electrocution.

Here’s where things stand. About 73 million Americans rely on Social Security for retirement, disability, or survivor benefits. But the program is bleeding money. It pays out roughly $60 billion more in benefits each year than it collects in payroll taxes.

We cannot keep printing and borrowing our way through this crisis. Kicking the can down the road will only trigger an inflationary disaster.

What about the trust fund? Isn’t there money saved for shortfalls?

Technically, yes. The trust fund holds $2.8 trillion in assets — but not in cash. That money was lent to the federal government over the years to finance its ballooning $36 trillion national debt. In exchange, the government issued the trust fund $2.8 trillion in Treasury bonds. In plain English: IOUs.

Each month, the trust fund redeems some of those IOUs to cover its shortfall. But there’s a catch. The federal government doesn’t have the cash either — it’s running a $2 trillion annual deficit. So when it pays the trust fund, it just borrows more. In effect, Washington is printing money to keep Social Security afloat.

Even if the trust fund had $2.8 trillion in real cash, it would still run dry by 2033. That’s because more people are retiring and drawing benefits than there are workers paying into the system. If Congress does nothing, benefits will be slashed by 23% in 2033. Why? Because by then, the fund will only collect about 77 cents in tax revenue for every dollar it pays out. Millions of Baby Boomers retiring each year will only accelerate this imbalance.

The longer Congress delays, the worse the fix will be. And the greater the risk that Washington — buried in debt — won’t be able to repay the trust fund at all. Soon, interest payments on the national debt will surpass the $1.6 trillion paid annually to Social Security’s 73 million beneficiaries.

It’s time to stop pretending this problem will fix itself. Yes, touching the “third rail” might carry political risk. But doing nothing guarantees economic and political disaster.

So what can we do?

First, remove the cap on Social Security payroll taxes. Right now, workers stop paying the 6.2% tax after earning $168,600 in a year. Lifting that cap would raise about $200 billion annually — enough to solve 70% of the long-term funding problem. Yes, high earners would be angry. But the move would also stabilize benefits for tens of millions of Americans.

Second, adjust the system’s parameters. We could raise the retirement age, though that punishes younger workers. We could raise the payroll tax rate, which hits all earners. We could reduce benefits for wealthy retirees. We could also turn loose the DOGE to combat waste and fraud, which drain billions from the system. A mix of these strategies could close the remaining 30% of the funding gap.

Third, we should expand the pool of contributors. America’s population growth has stalled. The best path forward is to increase legal immigration of able-bodied, working-age adults. At the same time, we should encourage more Americans who have left the workforce to return. The surest way to do that? Boost the economy and job creation.

What we cannot do is keep printing and borrowing our way through this crisis. Kicking the can down the road will only trigger an inflationary disaster.

The most painful option would be to cut benefits. But slashing retirement income for seniors who can’t easily return to work would be devastating — financially, morally, and politically.

No matter which fixes we pursue, we need to stop letting the federal government borrow from the trust fund. Lending money to a government drowning in historic debt makes no sense. The trust fund should be allowed to invest in safer, more productive assets that deliver reliable returns.

The time for delay is over. Politicians must grab the third rail — not because they want to but because the country needs them to. If they explain the stakes honestly and act decisively, voters might just reward courage over cowardice.

Find out where illegal immigrants are allowed to vote



According to the mainstream media and its loyal leftist followers, the great replacement theory is just another extremist, right-wing, MAGA, conspiracy theory.

But with everything happening because of our open border, Sara Gonzales is fairly confident that they’re wrong.

“It’s just that places like New York are already doing this in local elections. They are allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections,” Gonzales says.

Now, experts are warning that a loophole in Arizona’s election procedures may allow non-citizens to cast federal election ballots in the 2024 presidential election.

Arizona’s secretary of state, Adrien Fontes, crafted the election procedures manual to permit individuals with unverifiable citizenship to register as “federal only voters” in order to participate in federal elections.

Fontes, of course, happens to be a Democrat.

“This is happening,” Gonzales says angrily. “As much as they want to claim this is not happening, this absolutely is happening.”

“They are literally trying to create loopholes so that illegal immigrants can vote in federal elections,” she continues. “We’re talking about the Presidential Election. If you don’t think that this is what the whole master plan has been, I don’t know what to tell you at this point.”


Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Here's Where Illegal Immigrants Can Vote
play icon

Here's Where Illegal Immigrants Can Vote

The U.S. Navy’s Personnel Crisis Is Only Getting Worse

What happens when the U.S. no longer possesses the manpower necessary to maintain its status as a global hegemon?

How Biden’s Social Security Demagoguery Is Stoking Inflation

Uncertainty over Social Security’s future could be exacerbating labor market shortages — one of the prime drivers of rising prices.