This week, these nine members of Congress from Maryland voted along party lines in favor of a government shutdown. While their staffs flooded constituents with emails about how much they’re doing for the already-displaced federal workers, they voted to stop the pay and the public service of over six million more.

From the House, freshmen members John Olszewski Jr., April McClain-Delaney and Sarah Elfreth joined 44-year veteran Steny Hoyer, as well as Glenn Ivey, Kweisi Mfume, and Jamie Raskin were among the almost-unanimous Democratic Party rejection of an eleventh-hour attempt to prevent shutdown.

In the Senate, Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks ignored Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s appeal to reason and also voted for shutdown.

Old news? Not really. The federal government is only funded through September, which means, in six months, this piece of political theater will be revived, probably to even more dismal critical response. Is this an effort to stay in the news as the Executive Branch grabs all the headlines? If so, it’s ironic that our elected “representatives” can only be relevant by not doing their jobs.

“Representative” is in quotes because these individuals do not represent me, or, I suspect, the majority of their constituents. They represent the Democratic National Committee.

Some will challenge my number of roughly six million affected workers. After all, only about 900,000 federal employees will be furloughed if the government shuts down. About another million are essential. And they’ll all get back pay, so what’s the real harm here, right? They all get a delayed-pay vacation.

But what the overwhelming majority of news outlets covering this story did not seem to want to mention is that there are an estimated 5.6 million more contract employees working for federal agencies. They’re probably not mentioned because their situation is less clear-cut. Some, under already-executed contracts, will continue to work and be paid by their employers. Some will be “allowed” to take leave, and thus still be paid. And some might go unpaid. And some might just lose or quit their jobs, depending on the duration of the shutdown.

One thing (among many) that galls me about this is the hypocrisy of it. As I mentioned at the start, these members of Congress have been flooding voters’ inboxes since January, declaiming that they care about displaced federal workers. They’ve held town halls. They’ve arranged vocational training and placement fairs. They’ve promised to find jobs in state and local government that… apparently… are just… sitting there, unfilled. And then they turn around and try to put millions more–not just from Maryland–out of work. And then they and their party are outraged that they weren’t allowed to shut the government down. They’re talking about replacing their Senate Minority Leader for “betraying” them–read: for doing his job.  

And, um… aren’t these some of the same people who were angry at a President four years ago for taking steps to impede the progress of government?

If have, to use a phrase I detest, zero tolerance for the excuses here: It was a bad bill. The Republicans bullied us. We needed more time.

No.

Congress has a year to pass a budget. Sure, they’re only in session for so many of that year; but they know the budget is coming, and they have a year to research, to meet, to make deals. There is no excuse whatsoever for them not doing their most important job: funding government operations. This is, I repeat, political theater. It was a sympathy-grab; and, if the D.N.C.’s approval ratings which I saw this week are accurate, it has failed. About three quarters of Americans are fed up with paying people who do not do their jobs, and who actively try to stop the pay of people who do.

Some might say I’m being partisan, because this continuing resolution was crafted by Republicans. Honestly, I don’t care. Shutting down the government is a self-serving move, a dick move, and I felt the same way when Elon Musk and Donald Trump suggested it back in December. The difference was that they had no vote and it wasn’t their job. The nine people listed above did and it was.

Going forward, I am asking voters to make it clear to our representatives that they need to do their jobs and pass a full-year budget. No political theater, no threats, no excuses. We also need to ask our representatives–and maybe one will be brave enough to sponsor it–for new legislation, specifying that, if the government shuts down, Congress doesn’t get paid. Period. No back pay. No benefits. No services. They are unemployed while government is shut down. Create an independent agency whose job it is to oversee them while they pass a new budget. Perhaps let the governors of the states take that on. In this political climate, it shouldn’t be the judiciary or the executive. We need to demand accountability.

We’re all doing our jobs. Members of Congress need to get off the soapboxes and do theirs.