Who Not to Vote For

The Complete List of Congress Members Who Have Decided Their Agenda Matters More Than You Do

Let me say something at the very beginning that you need to understand before we go any further.

Your congressman does not represent Democrats. Your senator does not represent Republicans. They do not represent the donors who funded their campaign, the party bosses who gave them their committee assignments, or the cable news anchors who invite them on television. They represent EVERY SINGLE PERSON in their district or their state. Period. That is the entire job. That is the oath. That is the contract they signed with you the moment they put their hand on a Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Not the people who voted for them. EVERYONE.

That means the conservative in a blue district who just wants to show ID to vote — the same ID he showed to buy cold medicine last Tuesday — deserves representation. The veteran in any state who is losing $1,400 a month because the government he bled for is picking his pocket deserves representation. The working parent who does not want their tax dollars funding the salaries of people who cannot be bothered to DO THEIR JOB deserves representation.

What you are about to read is not a partisan attack. I am going to call out members of BOTH parties by name, on the record, using their actual votes. I am going to tell you which party most of the offenders belong to, because the data is what it is, and I refuse to lie to you just to seem balanced. I am also going to call out Republicans by name when the data demands it, because intellectual honesty requires it.

What I ask is simple. Read this. Look up your representative in these lists. Ask yourself one honest question:

Is this person doing the job you hired them to do?

Because in far too many cases — the documented answer is no.

— ILHAN OMAR AND THE MOST REVEALING THING HAPPENING IN POLITICS RIGHT NOW —

Before we get to votes and data, I need to talk about something that I think tells us more about the state of political representation in America than almost anything else I have seen.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District. Minneapolis. She was elected to represent the people of that district. ALL of them — the Somali community that supported her, yes. But also the veterans. The business owners. The parents. The conservatives. The people who voted against her. Every single person who lives in that district is her constituent, and every single one of them is owed her attention, her responsiveness, and her accountability.

She has blocked her constituents from commenting on her X account.

Not her personal account. Her PUBLIC PLATFORM where she speaks about public policy. She does not want the people she supposedly serves to be able to respond to her, disagree with her, or even ask her a question. She decided that her comfort with her own ideas is more important than the most basic democratic function that exists: the ability to talk back to your government.

I want you to sit with that for a second.

This is a sitting member of Congress. An elected official. Someone who campaigned on “representation” and “democracy” and “giving voice to the voiceless.” And she literally — not figuratively, LITERALLY — will not let the people whose district she represents speak to her.

SHE DOES NOT WANT YOUR VOICE. She wants your vote, and then she wants your silence. She will collect the paycheck, wield the power, make the decisions, cast the votes, and you will sit down and stay quiet and be grateful she showed up at all.

That is not democracy. That is not representation. That is not what elected officials are supposed to be.

IT IS THE ANTITHESIS OF DEMOCRACY. It is the mindset of a ruler, not a representative. And @IlhanMN has made it crystal clear: she is about her own agenda, her own ideology, and her own political brand. The constituents she was elected to serve are nothing more than a vehicle she used to get there.

Quinn’s Law #22 is operating in plain sight: liberals love democracy until it does not go their way. And apparently, that extends to blocking the literal voices of the people who elected you.

Now let us get into the votes.

— VOTE ONE: THE SAVE ACT — VOTER ID — 83% OF AMERICA WANTS IT —

Here are some numbers I want you to hold in your head.

Pew Research, August 2025: 83% of Americans support requiring government-issued photo ID to vote.

Gallup, October 2024: 84% of Americans support photo ID at polling places.

Among self-identified Democrats: 67-71% support it.

Let me be precise about what 83% means. That is not a slim majority. That is nine out of ten people agreeing on something in a country where nine out of ten people cannot agree on what to order for lunch. That is the kind of consensus that makes pollsters double-check their methodology because they cannot believe the number is that high.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — the SAVE Act, H.R. 22 — passed the House of Representatives on April 10, 2025. It requires proof of citizenship to register to vote. It does not take away anyone’s right to vote. It requires that the person voting is who they say they are. The same thing you do when you cash a check, board an airplane, or buy NyQuil.

It passed 220-208.

Every single Republican — all 216 of them — voted YES. Four Democrats crossed over and voted YES: Case (HI), Golden (ME), Cuellar (TX), and Perez (WA). These four members looked at 83% support in their own districts and decided to do their job. Credit where it is due. Genuinely.

The other 208 Democrats voted NO.

Two hundred and eight members of Congress looked at 83% support among the American public — including majority support from their own voters — and voted against it anyway. They did not represent their constituents. They represented their party.

Here they are. Every single one. By state.

I want you to find your representative. Look them in the eye at your next town hall — if they even hold one — and ask them why 83% support was not enough.

ALABAMA: Figures, Shomari | Sewell, Terri A. ARIZONA: Ansari, Yassamin | Stanton, Greg
CALIFORNIA (43 members): Aguilar, Pete | Barragán, Nanette Diaz | Bera, Ami | Brownley, Julia | Carbajal, Salud O. | Chu, Judy | Cisneros, Gilbert Ray | Correa, J. Luis | Costa, Jim | DeSaulnier, Mark | Friedman, Laura | Garamendi, John | Garcia, Robert | Gomez, Jimmy | Gray, Adam | Harder, Josh | Huffman, Jared | Jacobs, Sara | Kamlager-Dove, Sydney | Khanna, Ro | Levin, Mike | Liccardo, Sam | Lieu, Ted | Lofgren, Zoe | Matsui, Doris O. | Min, Dave | Mullin, Kevin | Panetta, Jimmy | Pelosi, Nancy | Peters, Scott H. | Rivas, Luz | Ruiz, Raul | Sánchez, Linda T. | Sherman, Brad | Simon, Lateefah | Swalwell, Eric | Takano, Mark | Thompson, Mike | Torres, Norma J. | Tran, Derek | Vargas, Juan | Waters, Maxine | Whitesides,
George COLORADO: Crow, Jason | DeGette, Diana | Neguse, Joe | Pettersen, Brittany
CONNECTICUT: Courtney, Joe | DeLauro, Rosa L. | Hayes, Jahana | Himes, James A. | Larson, John B.
DELAWARE: McBride, Sarah
FLORIDA: Castor, Kathy | Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila | Frankel, Lois | Frost, Maxwell | Moskowitz, Jared | Soto, Darren | Wasserman Schultz, Debbie | Wilson, Frederica S.
GEORGIA: Bishop, Sanford D. | Johnson, Hank | McBath, Lucy | Scott, David | Williams, Nikema
HAWAII: Tokuda, Jill N.
ILLINOIS (14 members): Budzinski, Nikki | Casten, Sean | Davis, Danny K. | Foster, Bill | García, Jesús G. “Chuy” | Jackson, Jonathan L. | Kelly, Robin L. | Krishnamoorthi, Raja | Quigley, Mike | Ramirez, Delia C. | Schakowsky, Janice D. | Schneider, Bradley Scott | Sorensen, Eric | Underwood, Lauren
INDIANA: Carson, André | Mrvan, Frank J. KANSAS: Davids, Sharice
KENTUCKY: McGarvey, Morgan LOUISIANA: Carter, Troy A. | Fields, Cleo
MAINE: Pingree, Chellie
MARYLAND: Elfreth, Sarah | Hoyer, Steny H. | Ivey, Glenn | McClain Delaney, April | Mfume, Kweisi | Olszewski, Johnny | Raskin, Jamie
MASSACHUSETTS (9 members): Auchincloss, Jake | Clark, Katherine M. | Keating, William R. | Lynch, Stephen F. | McGovern, James P. | Moulton, Seth | Neal, Richard E. | Pressley, Ayanna | Trahan, Lori
MICHIGAN: Dingell, Debbie | McDonald Rivet, Kristen | Scholten, Hillary J. | Stevens, Haley M. | Thanedar, Shri | Tlaib, Rashida
MINNESOTA: Craig, Angie | McCollum, Betty | Morrison, Kelly | Omar, Ilhan
MISSISSIPPI: Thompson, Bennie G.
MISSOURI: Bell, Wesley | Cleaver, Emanuel
NEVADA: Horsford, Steven | Lee, Susie | Titus, Dina
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Goodlander, Maggie | Pappas, Chris
NEW JERSEY: Conaway, Herbert | Gottheimer, Josh | McIver, LaMonica | Menendez, Robert | Pallone, Frank | Pou, Nellie | Sherrill, Mikie | Watson Coleman, Bonnie
NEW MEXICO: Leger Fernandez, Teresa | Stansbury, Melanie A. | Vasquez, Gabe
NEW YORK (19 members): Clarke, Yvette D. | Espaillat, Adriano | Gillen, Laura | Goldman, Daniel S. | Jeffries, Hakeem S. | Kennedy, Timothy M. | Latimer, George | Mannion, John | Meeks, Gregory W. | Meng, Grace | Morelle, Joseph D. | Nadler, Jerrold | Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria | Riley, Josh | Ryan, Patrick | Suozzi, Thomas R. | Tonko, Paul | Torres, Ritchie | Velázquez, Nydia M.
NORTH CAROLINA: Adams, Alma S. | Davis, Donald G. | Foushee, Valerie P. | Ross, Deborah K.
OHIO: Beatty, Joyce | Brown, Shontel M. | Kaptur, Marcy | Landsman, Greg | Sykes, Emilia Strong
OREGON: Bonamici, Suzanne | Bynum, Janelle | Dexter, Maxine | Hoyle, Val T. | Salinas, Andrea
PENNSYLVANIA: Boyle, Brendan F. | Dean, Madeleine | Deluzio, Christopher R. | Evans, Dwight | Houlahan, Chrissy | Lee, Summer L. | Scanlon, Mary Gay
RHODE ISLAND: Amo, Gabe | Magaziner, Seth SOUTH CAROLINA: Clyburn, James E.
TENNESSEE: Cohen, Steve
TEXAS (11 members): Casar, Greg | Castro, Joaquin | Crockett, Jasmine | Doggett, Lloyd | Escobar, Veronica | Fletcher, Lizzie | Garcia, Sylvia R. | Gonzalez, Vicente | Green, Al | Johnson, Julie | Veasey, Marc A. VERMONT: Balint, Becca
VIRGINIA: Beyer, Donald S. | Connolly, Gerald E. | McClellan, Jennifer L. | Scott, Robert C. “Bobby” | Subramanyam, Suhas | Vindman, Eugene
WASHINGTON: DelBene, Suzan K. | Jayapal, Pramila | Larsen, Rick | Randall, Emily | Schrier, Kim | Smith, Adam | Strickland, Marilyn
WISCONSIN: Moore, Gwen | Pocan, Mark

That is 208 members of the United States House of Representatives who voted against the will of 83% of Americans.

Now I said I would call out both parties. True to my word: on the Senate side, the SAVE Act procedural vote on March 17, 2026 failed 51-48. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was the only Republican to vote against advancing it. She called it federal overreach. The other 47 NO votes were all Democrats or Democrat-aligned independents. Murkowski’s name belongs on this list too, and it is going on it.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was absent for that vote and has publicly stated he is “a no” — calling the entire debate a “waste of time” with “0% chance of passing.” So he gets a special mention: he did not even show up to vote against it. He just told you, publicly, that he does not think it matters. Real profile in courage there, Senator.

And Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — absent and publicly opposed.

Ask yourself something. If 67% of DEMOCRATS support voter ID — and polling consistently shows they do — then who exactly are these senators representing? Because it is not their constituents. It is not even ONLY the Republican constituents that pushed this — most of their own Democratic base supports it too, but these senators are not polling their district. They are polling their donors, their party bosses, and whatever the current temperature is on the idea that Orange Man Bad means you vote NO on anything he touches, even when 67% of your own people are standing behind it. Quinn’s Law #6: facts are the enemy of liberalism. The fact that their own base supports this bill is apparently not a fact they are willing to deal with.

— A BRIEF WORD ABOUT THE ARGUMENT THEY WILL MAKE —

They will tell you this is about voter suppression. They will tell you that requiring ID disenfranchises people who cannot get one.

I want to address this as a teacher, because when a student gives me an argument this weak, I do them the courtesy of actually explaining where the logic fails.

We already require ID to: buy alcohol, buy tobacco, drive a car, board a plane, cash a check, open a bank account, buy a gun legally, rent an apartment, get government benefits, and in many states, enter a federal courthouse. The left has never once described any of those ID requirements as “suppression.”

They require ID at the DNC convention to get in the door. No, seriously — they do.

If the argument is that some people cannot access a government ID, the answer is to help them GET one — not to abandon the verification process entirely. And the bill does not prevent people from getting an ID. It simply says that when you participate in the most fundamental act of self-governance in a democratic system, you should be able to confirm you are who you say you are.

Eighty-three percent of Americans already understand this. The 208 members on that list above chose party loyalty over that 83%. Remember their names in November.

— VOTE TWO: H.CON.RES. 38 — THE WAR POWERS VOTE — WHO VOTED TO ABANDON OUR TROOPS IN THE FIELD —

This one hits differently for me personally. I want to be upfront about that before I start.

As of today, March 19, 2026, Operation Epic Fury is ACTIVE and ONGOING. This is not a history lesson. Four American service members are already dead. Our military is engaged against Iran right now. The Strait of Hormuz has been closed, oil prices have spiked, and Hezbollah opened a Lebanon front in response to our operations. Khamenei is dead. Iran is retaliating across the region.

And on March 4, 2026, 212 members of the House of Representatives voted to invoke the War Powers Resolution to REMOVE U.S. Armed Forces from what they called “unauthorized hostilities” — while those forces were in the field.

The resolution FAILED, 212-219. Fifty more votes and our troops would have been ordered home mid-mission by a Congress that could not wait for the shooting to stop before scoring political points.

Let me tell you what that vote means from the perspective of someone who wore the uniform.

When you are deployed, you have to trust two things: the people to your left and right, and the government that sent you. You trust that if you take fire, your government has your back. You trust that they did not send you somewhere just to pull the rug out from under you when the politics shifted. The moment Congress starts voting to recall you mid-mission is the moment your enemy knows they just have to hold on long enough for the votes to change. It is the most demoralizing signal you can send to troops in the field.

Two hundred and twelve people sent that signal.

Now — and I mean this — two Republicans are on this list. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) both voted YES to invoke War Powers and remove our forces. Their names belong here because this is NOT a partisan issue. I do not exempt Republicans when they get it wrong, and I am not about to start now.

The four Democrats who voted NAY — who refused to kneecap our troops mid-engagement — deserve credit: Cuellar, Henry (TX) | Golden, Jared F. (ME) | Landsman, Greg (OH) | Vargas, Juan (CA). I genuinely appreciate that these four members had the integrity to separate their political opposition to the president from their responsibility to American service members in harm’s way. That is not easy in today’s environment.

Here is the complete list of the 212 members who voted to remove our forces from active operations. Per the Congressional Record, H.Con.Res. 38, March 4, 2026:

ALABAMA: Figures, Shomari | Sewell, Terri A.
ARIZONA: Ansari, Yassamin | Grijalva, Adelita S. | Stanton, Greg
CALIFORNIA (43 members): Aguilar, Pete | Barragán, Nanette Diaz | Bera, Ami | Brownley, Julia | Carbajal, Salud O. | Chu, Judy | Cisneros, Gilbert Ray | Correa, J. Luis | Costa, Jim | DeSaulnier, Mark | Friedman, Laura | Garamendi, John | Garcia, Robert | Gomez, Jimmy | Gray, Adam | Harder, Josh | Huffman, Jared | Jacobs, Sara | Kamlager-Dove, Sydney | Khanna, Ro | Levin, Mike | Liccardo, Sam T. | Lieu, Ted | Lofgren, Zoe | Matsui, Doris O. | Min, Dave | Mullin, Kevin | Panetta, Jimmy | Pelosi, Nancy | Peters, Scott H. | Rivas, Luz M. | Ruiz, Raul | Sánchez, Linda T. | Sherman, Brad | Simon, Lateefah | Swalwell, Eric | Takano, Mark | Thompson, Mike | Torres, Norma J. | Tran, Derek | Waters, Maxine | Whitesides, George
COLORADO: Crow, Jason | DeGette, Diana | Neguse, Joe | Pettersen, Brittany
CONNECTICUT: Courtney, Joe | DeLauro, Rosa L. | Hayes, Jahana | Himes, James A. | Larson, John B.
DELAWARE: McBride, Sarah
FLORIDA: Castor, Kathy | Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila | Frankel, Lois | Frost, Maxwell | Moskowitz, Jared | Soto, Darren | Wasserman Schultz, Debbie | Wilson, Frederica S.
GEORGIA: Bishop, Sanford D. | Johnson, Hank | McBath, Lucy | Scott, David | Williams, Nikema
HAWAII: Case, Ed | Tokuda, Jill N.
ILLINOIS (14 members): Budzinski, Nikki | Casten, Sean | Davis, Danny K. | Foster, Bill | García, Jesús G. “Chuy” | Jackson, Jonathan L. | Kelly, Robin L. | Krishnamoorthi, Raja | Quigley, Mike | Ramirez, Delia C. | Schakowsky, Janice D. | Schneider, Bradley Scott | Sorensen, Eric | Underwood, Lauren
INDIANA: Carson, André | Mrvan, Frank J.
KANSAS: Davids, Sharice
KENTUCKY: Massie, Thomas (R) | McGarvey, Morgan
LOUISIANA: Carter, Troy A. | Fields, Cleo
MAINE: Pingree, Chellie
MARYLAND: Elfreth, Sarah | Hoyer, Steny H. | Ivey, Glenn | McClain Delaney, April | Mfume, Kweisi | Olszewski, Johnny | Raskin, Jamie
MASSACHUSETTS (9 members): Auchincloss, Jake | Clark, Katherine M. | Keating, William R. | Lynch, Stephen F. | McGovern, James P. | Moulton, Seth | Neal, Richard E. | Pressley, Ayanna | Trahan, Lori
MICHIGAN: Dingell, Debbie | McDonald Rivet, Kristen | Scholten, Hillary J. | Stevens, Haley M. | Thanedar, Shri | Tlaib, Rashida
MINNESOTA: Craig, Angie | McCollum, Betty | Morrison, Kelly | Omar, Ilhan MISSISSIPPI: Thompson, Bennie G.
MISSOURI: Bell, Wesley | Cleaver, Emanuel
NEVADA: Horsford, Steven | Lee, Susie | Titus, Dina
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Goodlander, Maggie | Pappas, Chris
NEW JERSEY: Conaway, Herbert C. | Gottheimer, Josh | McIver, LaMonica | Menendez, Robert | Norcross, Donald | Pallone, Frank | Pou, Nellie | Watson Coleman, Bonnie
NEW MEXICO: Leger Fernandez, Teresa | Stansbury, Melanie A. | Vasquez, Gabe
NEW YORK (19 members): Clarke, Yvette D. | Espaillat, Adriano | Gillen, Laura | Goldman, Daniel S. | Jeffries, Hakeem S. | Kennedy, Timothy M. | Latimer, George | Mannion, John W. | Meeks, Gregory W. | Meng, Grace | Morelle, Joseph D. | Nadler, Jerrold | Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria | Riley, Josh | Ryan, Patrick | Suozzi, Thomas R. | Tonko, Paul | Torres, Ritchie | Velázquez, Nydia M.
NORTH CAROLINA: Adams, Alma S. | Davis, Donald G. | Foushee, Valerie P. | Ross, Deborah K.
OHIO: Beatty, Joyce | Brown, Shontel M. | Davidson, Warren (R) | Kaptur, Marcy | Sykes, Emilia Strong
OREGON: Bonamici, Suzanne | Bynum, Janelle S. | Dexter, Maxine | Hoyle, Val T. | Salinas, Andrea
PENNSYLVANIA: Boyle, Brendan F. | Dean, Madeleine | Deluzio, Christopher R. | Evans, Dwight | Houlahan, Chrissy | Lee, Summer L. | Scanlon, Mary Gay
RHODE ISLAND: Amo, Gabe | Magaziner, Seth
SOUTH CAROLINA: Clyburn, James E.
TENNESSEE: Cohen, Steve
TEXAS (12 members): Casar, Greg | Castro, Joaquin | Crockett, Jasmine | Doggett, Lloyd | Escobar, Veronica | Fletcher, Lizzie | Garcia, Sylvia R. | Gonzalez, Vicente | Green, Al | Johnson, Julie | Menefee, Christian D. | Veasey, Marc A.
VERMONT: Balint, Becca
VIRGINIA: Beyer, Donald S. | McClellan, Jennifer L. | Scott, Robert C. “Bobby” | Subramanyam, Suhas | Vindman, Eugene Simon | Walkinshaw, James R.
WASHINGTON: DelBene, Suzan K. | Jayapal, Pramila | Larsen, Rick | Perez, Marie Gluesenkamp | Randall, Emily | Schrier, Kim | Smith, Adam | Strickland, Marilyn
WISCONSIN: Moore, Gwen | Pocan, Mark

Total: 212 members of Congress, including 210 Democrats and 2 Republicans, voted to remove American forces from an active operation. March 4, 2026. While American service members were in the field.

Now I want to address some of the quoted commentary from senior Democrats about this conflict, because it tells you everything about what they are actually doing here.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): walked out of a CLASSIFIED briefing and immediately took to public platforms to announce the war was “a complete mess,” that “we won’t achieve any of our stated goals,” and that “Trump has lost control.” He was bragging. He sounded excited. The men and women currently under fire were apparently less important to him than his ability to score political points before the briefing room door had finished closing behind him.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) — a veteran himself, which makes this especially galling — appeared before the House Armed Services Committee and declared Trump is “actually losing the war.” Senator. You were pushing to REMOVE THE TROOPS. You wanted them gone. And now you are criticizing the outcome? You cannot simultaneously try to pull the rug out from under an operation and then critique the man trying to finish it. That is not analysis. That is sabotage followed by a press release.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it “a widening war that Donald Trump is already losing control of.” Sen. Warren Warren (D-MA) called it an “illegal war” with “no endgame.”

Here is what strikes me most about all of this. These are the same people who, for four years under Biden’s Autopen, told us the adults were back in charge. Steady hands. Experienced diplomats. And when a president they do not like makes a decisive move to degrade a nation that has been building nuclear weapons while explicitly promising to use them — suddenly they are pacifists. Suddenly the War Powers Resolution matters. Suddenly they care about the constitutional authority to wage war, having never uttered a word about that authority for the many other conflicts and engagements that preceded this one.

Quinn’s Law #1: liberalism always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent. They claim to want peace. When we take decisive military action that could produce it, they try to end the operation.

And Quinn’s Law #2: if you want to know what liberals are up to, pay attention to what they accuse conservatives of doing. They accuse Trump of recklessly endangering American lives. The people endangered American lives are the 212 members who tried to remove them from an active conflict mid-mission.

— THE MAJOR RICHARD STAR ACT — AND ONE SENATOR’S ONGOING BETRAYAL OF 54,000 WOUNDED VETERANS —

This one is personal to me. So I want you to understand what I am about to describe in human terms before I give you the numbers.

Major Richard Star was an Army combat engineer from Ohio. He served from 1988. He deployed to Desert Storm. He did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was exposed to toxic burn pits — the same burn pits that have now been acknowledged to cause cancer in veterans at alarming rates. He developed stage-four lung cancer. He was medically retired just short of 20 years. And while he was dying. While he was on oxygen tanks and barely able to stand. While his wife Tonya quit her job to care for him full-time — the United States government told him he could not receive both his retirement pay and his VA disability compensation at the same time.

He fought for this legislation while doing chemotherapy. He traveled on oxygen just to advocate for other veterans in the same position. He died in February 2021 at age 51, named after a bill that still has not passed.

That is what we are talking about. Not a policy abstract. A man dying of cancer he earned in America’s service, fighting to claw back retirement money the government was taking from him, losing the fight because one senator decided it was too expensive.

The Major Richard Star Act — H.R. 2102 in the House, S. 1032 in the Senate, currently filed as S.Amdt.4056 in appropriations — eliminates the dollar-for-dollar offset that forces combat-wounded, medically retired veterans to lose $1 of retirement for every $1 of VA disability they receive.

Let me explain this offset plainly, because the opposition will describe it as “double-dipping” and I want to cut that argument off at the knees right now.

Military retirement pay is not a bonus. It is deferred compensation for years of service. You earn it the same way a private sector worker earns a pension — through time served under contract.

VA disability compensation is not extra money. It is workers’ compensation for a permanently destroyed body. Your knee is gone. Your hearing is gone. Your spine is damaged. The government pays you for that because YOU WERE INJURED DOING THE JOB THEY SENT YOU TO DO.

These are two different things. Paying for them separately is not “double-dipping.” If you got hit by a drunk driver and received both your disability settlement AND your regular paycheck from your employer, would you call that double-dipping? Of course not. They compensate for different things.

Congress understood this in 2004 when they eliminated this exact same offset for veterans who served 20 years. TWENTY-YEAR VETERANS CAN ALREADY RECEIVE BOTH. This has been the law since 2004.

The ONLY difference between a 20-year veteran and the 54,000 veterans covered by the Major Richard Star Act is HOW QUICKLY THEIR INJURIES ENDED THEIR CAREER. One man serves his full 20 years. Another man loses a leg in Fallujah in year 15 and gets medically retired. The first man receives both. The second man has $1,400 a month stolen from his retirement check. For the rest of his life.

That is the injustice. And it is being committed by the same government that handed him the rifle and told him where to stand.

The bill has 76 Senate cosponsors out of 100. Three hundred-plus House cosponsors. It is the MOST COSPONSORED BILL in the United States Congress right now. The votes to pass it exist. The support is overwhelming. It is bipartisan in every sense of the word.

TWO senators have blocked it. Both Republicans. Both on the record.

The first: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).

@SenatorWicker. Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

His stated reason: he cannot afford it. The CBO-certified cost is $9.75 billion over 10 years. Roughly $975 million per year.

Here is where this goes from frustrating to genuinely infuriating.

On October 8, 2025, Senator Wicker stood up and objected to unanimous consent for the Major Richard Star Act because it was too expensive.

On October 9, 2025 — THE VERY NEXT DAY — Senator Wicker, as the primary architect of the bill, voted YES on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2026 at $924.7 BILLION.

He could not find $975 million for combat-wounded veterans. He found $924.7 billion for everything else. THE NEXT DAY.

He has since voted for a continuing resolution carrying approximately $1.5 trillion in government spending. He co-sponsored this same bill in 2021. He was for it. Then he became the Chairman with the power to block it, and suddenly he cannot afford it.

For the record: Senator Wicker’s military service was as an Air Force JAG officer — a lawyer in uniform. No combat deployments. No combat-related injuries. No personal understanding of what it means to have your body broken in the service of your country and come home to watch the government reduce your retirement check as a reward for your sacrifice.

The second blocker: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

@SenRonJohnson.

On March 3, 2026 — while American service members were actively engaged in Operation Epic Fury — Senator Ron Johnson stood on the Senate floor and blocked the Major Richard Star Act. TWICE. Not only did he block the bill itself, he blocked a compromise measure that would have done nothing more than guarantee a recorded floor vote. He would not even allow his colleagues to go on the record. Because he KNOWS that if this bill reached the floor, it would pass. Seventy-six bipartisan cosponsors. Three hundred-plus House cosponsors. It wins if it gets a vote. So he killed the vote instead.

And then he lied about the cost.

Senator Johnson claimed on the Senate floor that the Major Richard Star Act costs $70 billion. The CBO-certified, officially scored cost is $9.75 billion over 10 years. He did not round up. He did not use a different methodology. He overstated the cost by more than SEVEN TIMES the actual figure — while combat-wounded veterans were watching from home, losing $1,400 a month, some of them dying of burn pit cancer while waiting for Congress to act.

Seventy billion. The actual number is $9.75 billion over ten years.

Senator Johnson, I have a question for you, and I am going to ask it the same way I ask my students when they turn in work with errors this significant: which of these three explanations is true? You did not read the CBO score and are just repeating whatever number someone handed you. You read it and did not understand it. Or you read it, understood it perfectly, and chose to stand on the Senate floor and lie to the American people about it to justify blocking benefits for 54,000 combat-wounded veterans.

Pick one. Because those are the only options.

I want to be charitable and assume neither Wicker nor Johnson is engaged in cynical calculation. I want to. But when one man votes for $924.7 billion in military spending the day after blocking a $975 million per year veterans benefit — and another man cites a cost figure seven times higher than what the CBO actually scored — there is no charitable interpretation left. The math will not allow it.

I know what it feels like. I am a medically retired Army combat medic, 23 years, 100% disabled. I was the sole medical personnel on my base in Iraq. I treated everyone who needed treatment, including an Iraqi general and his staff. I helped build a hospital, a school, and a fire station. I escorted girls to school because they would have been murdered for wanting an education, and we were not going to let that happen on our watch.

I come home. I get medically retired. And the same government I did all that for takes money out of my retirement because of how fast my injuries ended my career.

That is what the Major Richard Star Act is about.

The Senate also voted twice on S.J.Res. 104 and S.J.Res. 118 — War Powers resolutions — and the same senators who blocked the DHS funding bill are largely the same senators who have also been silent on or indifferent to the Major Richard Star Act. They found political energy to vote 47-53 against the president’s war powers twice. They cannot seem to find the same energy for 54,000 veterans losing $1,400 a month.

If you want to know which senators voted twice to invoke War Powers against active military operations while simultaneously refusing to adequately pressure their colleagues on veterans’ retirement justice, the list is nearly identical to the Senate SAVE Act NO votes above.

They have energy for this particular agenda. They just do not have it for veterans.

— THE DHS PARTIAL SHUTDOWN — AND WHO KEPT IT GOING —

I will keep this section tighter because the principle is the same. The Department of Homeland Security has been partially shut down because Senate Democrats have used the filibuster to block DHS funding bills multiple times — specifically demanding ICE reforms that were not in the Republican-passed bills.

There have been at least three major Senate votes in 2026 where Democrats blocked DHS funding, including January 29, February 12, and March 5 votes. The pattern is identical every time: the bill comes up, falls short of 60 votes, and Democrats walk out having blocked it.

The partial government shutdown has affected the TSA — the people keeping your flights safe. FEMA. The Coast Guard. Real agencies, with real workers, doing real work that Americans need.

Democrats blocked the bill to force ICE reforms. That is their right under current Senate rules. But here is what they need to own: the TSA agent who was not getting paid because of this is not an ICE agent. The FEMA employee who could not do their job during this period is not an ICE agent. The Coast Guard member on patrol protecting American waters is not an ICE agent.

They held all of those people hostage to their immigration policy demands. And then they went on television and blamed Republicans for the shutdown.

The senators who voted to block DHS funding multiple times include virtually every Senate Democrat. The list overlaps almost completely with the SAVE Act NO votes above. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone consistent Democrat who crossed over to vote for advancement. His name does not belong on this list. His colleagues’ names do.

— BEFORE YOU GO: WHAT REPRESENTATION ACTUALLY MEANS —

I want to close with something that is not an attack on anyone.

I am a high school teacher. I teach anatomy and physics. I have been doing it for years in a high-need, high-risk district in Northeast Ohio — the kind of district where the public school system has largely given up on students, and someone has to show up anyway.

And one of the things I teach my students — one of the things that matters most, I think, in a science classroom — is the difference between a fact and an opinion. A fact is not something you believe or disbelieve based on how it makes you feel. It is something that either is or is not supported by the evidence.

The evidence here is the votes. Public record. Congressional Record. Roll call numbers. Timestamps. I did not invent any of this.

The evidence is that 208 members of the House voted against a bill 83% of Americans support.

The evidence is that 212 members tried to remove active-duty service members from an ongoing operation.

The evidence is that one senator has blocked legislation to stop the government from stealing retirement from 54,000 combat-wounded veterans — a bill he co-sponsored in 2021 — because he decided he cannot afford $975 million while voting for $924.7 billion the next day.

The evidence is that a sitting congresswoman has blocked her own constituents from her public platform while delivering speeches about representation and democracy.

None of this is partisan framing. It is just the record.

You get to decide what to do with it. That is what representation is supposed to be. You make an informed decision about the people who work for you.

These are the people whose job performance you just read about.

Decide accordingly in November.

But what do I know — I am only a science teacher who has read every bill mentioned in this article, a medically retired combat medic who understands exactly what a retirement offset costs the people who bear it, and an American who is tired of being told I cannot read a roll-call vote.

Mike Borowski is a medically retired Army combat medic with 23 years of service, including a combat deployment to Iraq, and a high school Anatomy and Physics teacher at a high-need Career Technical district in Northeast Ohio — where he also wrote and published the textbooks for both courses. He runs “Bski’s Classroom,” a platform dedicated to cutting through political noise with data, history, and the kind of blunt honesty that comes from someone who has seen both war and the American classroom up close.

—

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