Dems’ Shutdown Wish List: $3.9 Million for “LGBTQI+ Democracy” in the Balkans While Americans Go Unpaid
Eli Shepherd
We’re now entering the third week of what Speaker Mike Johnson rightly calls “the Democrat government shutdown.” Two full weeks of Washington theater, except this time, the show’s on your dime, and the plot is so absurd it would make a Babylon Bee headline blush. Watch the full presser here.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1978126382111588845The Democrat demand sheet for reopening the government reads less like a budget proposal and more like the syllabus for a gender studies class at Berkeley. Johnson laid it out plain: To turn the lights back on, Democrats want to spend $3.9 million on “LGBTQI+ democracy grants” in the Western Balkans. Because nothing says “essential American governance” like teaching Balkan bureaucrats about pronouns.
Let that sink in.
While Border Patrol goes underfunded and small businesses hang on by a thread, Democrats are holding the government hostage over rainbow grants in Serbia. You can’t even make this stuff up.
Johnson didn’t mince words. “Welcome to day 14 of the Democrat government shutdown,” he said. “Two weeks of Democrats in Congress inflicting untold pain on the American people for nothing other than pure politics.” He’s right. This isn’t about fiscal responsibility or even ideological differences. It’s about raw, performative power, the kind that values virtue signaling overseas more than solvency at home.
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https://redstate.com/eli-shepherd/2025/10/15/dems-shutdown-wish-list-39-million-for-lgbtqi-democracy-in-the-balkans-while-americans-go-unpaid-n2195070