By President Saul Anuzis

Every penny of taxpayer money matters. Yet Washington continues to spend recklessly, sending resources to those who broke our laws to enter this country while ignoring the very Americans who spent a lifetime paying into Social Security and Medicare. When taxpayers see their dollars diverted to illegal immigrants, they rightfully ask: who is looking out for seniors who depend on the promises made to them?

The truth is simple: every dollar spent subsidizing illegal immigration is a dollar stolen from our seniors. This is not rhetoric — it is reality. Social Security and Medicare are funded by workers who have contributed for decades. These programs were designed as a contract between generations. You work, you pay in, and you receive the benefits you earned. But when politicians in Washington prioritize benefits for illegal aliens, they break that social contract and weaken the programs seniors depend upon.

Democrats, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), have doubled down on this misguided spending. Instead of securing the border and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are preserved for citizens, they push budgets that funnel billions into housing, health care, and social services for those who entered the country illegally. Republicans are right to say no. This is what the so-called “Schumer Shutdown” debate is about: protecting taxpayers and defending the promises made to America’s seniors.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about compassion. America is a generous nation that welcomes legal immigrants and supports those who play by the rules. But there is nothing compassionate about bankrupting Social Security and Medicare, or about forcing working Americans and retirees to foot the bill for policies that reward lawlessness. Compassion for one group should never mean betrayal of another.

Seniors are already under financial strain. Inflation has eaten away at fixed incomes. Rising health care costs put Medicare under immense stress. Social Security’s trustees warn the program faces insolvency within the next decade unless reforms are made. Yet instead of addressing these challenges head-on, Democrats choose to expand welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. They divert billions of dollars that could strengthen Social Security and Medicare, or provide tax relief to struggling families, and instead spend them to subsidize an open-borders agenda.

And while Democrats are busy spending your money on benefits for illegal immigrants, they also try to scare seniors into believing Republicans want to take away their Social Security and Medicare. It’s an old playbook they dust off every election season: stoke fear, spread misinformation, and weaponize seniors’ legitimate concerns about their retirement security. This cynical tactic is not about protecting seniors — it’s about protecting Democrats’ political power. They use scare campaigns to win votes while their policies undermine the very programs they claim to defend.

The American people see through this. Poll after poll shows strong bipartisan support for securing the border and opposing taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants. Voters understand that resources are finite. They know that every dollar counts, and that priorities must be set. Seniors should come first, not last, in the budget debate.

Republicans who stand firm against Schumer’s spending priorities are not “shutting down government.” They are standing up for taxpayers, retirees, and working families. They are demanding accountability, fiscal responsibility, and fairness. A government that cannot or will not enforce its borders, but insists on taxing citizens to support those who entered illegally, has lost touch with its basic duty to protect and serve its own people.

The “Schumer Shutdown” debate is more than a budget standoff — it is a moral test. Will we honor the promises made to our seniors? Will we secure the border and defend the rule of law? Or will we continue down the path of reckless spending, open borders, and broken promises?

The choice is clear. Taxpayer dollars must never be used to subsidize illegal immigration. They should be used to keep our commitments to those who earned them: America’s seniors who worked, paid taxes, and deserve the Social Security and Medicare they were promised. Anything less is theft. Anything less is betrayal.

Saul Anuzis is the president of the 60 Plus Association and a Republican Party politician from the U.S. State of Michigan. He was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2005–2009 and was also a candidate for national chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2009 and 2011 as well as a Member of the RNC from 2005-2012.