Three weeks into a government shutdown, Democrats are dug in. Their price for reopening the government is $1.5 trillion in partisan spending. It’s a list of so many far-left priorities, one of my Senate colleagues says you need a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. And despite all of the suffering their shutdown strategy has caused, Democrats continue to insist on this costly ransom.

Not even the prospect of military families going without a paycheck was enough for Democrats to relent and reopen the government. We’re reading stories about military families lining up at food banks and needy families uncertain about nutrition assistance. There are Americans who can’t close on a new home because they can’t get flood insurance, and thousands of flights have been delayed because of staffing shortages. But one Democrat senator says, “[for] Democrats, it’s so far, so good.”

Republicans have offered Democrats in the Senate numerous chances to reopen the government. We’ve called up a clean, nonpartisan funding extension day after day – legislation that could reopen the government in a matter of hours with just a handful more Democrat votes. Senate Democrats also had a chance to advance a bipartisan, full-year defense funding bill, so we can at least make some progress toward securing paychecks for our troops and supporting our national security while Democrats continue to vote against reopening the entire government. But they rejected that as well.

Democrats defend their funding blockade by complaining that Republicans won’t negotiate with them. Negotiation happens when you have two sides each with its own demands, but Republicans have no demands. We’ve offered Democrats multiple chances to fund the government, and we’ve offered to have discussions and even hold votes on the issues they have raised after the government is open again. But Democrats insist that we satisfy their $1.5 trillion in partisan demands.

While hardworking Americans have suffered through this weeks-long shutdown, Democrats seem to be basking in the praise from their far-left base. Our economy is losing billions of dollars, government programs are in jeopardy, and federal workers are working without pay, but it seems that Democrats are fine with having Americans living in uncertainty so long as Democrats’ far-left base is satisfied.

It’s hard to believe that Democrats have spent the month of October putting the demands of far-left activists ahead of the American people, ahead of American troops and military families. Enough is enough. We need five more Democrats to support the clean funding extension. Then it can go to the White House, be signed into law, and all this needless suffering can come to an end. But I guess Democrats aren’t ready for that yet.