The House Republican agenda on full display.

We are just hours away from a government shutdown. Right now is the time when House Republicans should be getting serious about coming to the table to negotiate a deal to keep the government open so the millions of Americans who rely on crucial government services aren't left in the lurch.

Instead, House Republicans have released yet another list of demands that, unless Democrats agree to, they'll force a government shutdown. Here are just a few of the demands:

Slash housing assistance for low-income families by 33 percent in the throes of a national housing crisis.

Force more than 1 million women and children off of nutritional assistance.

Gut federal spending on home heating assistance by more than 70 percent just before the coldest months of the year.

This list reads like a list of demands on a ransom note. Because that's exactly what House Republicans are doing: holding our country hostage so they can inflict their cruelest, most extreme policies onto our country's poorest families.

It's not lost on me that this is all coming from the party that is forcing women and girls to give birth in a country that has no safety net and no help for the mothers and parents who can't afford necessities.

The cruelty of House Republicans knows no bounds.

I have always believed that poverty is a policy choice. And this is a gut-wrenching example of why that's the case.

Let me be clear: this ransom note is a nonstarter in the Senate. But it's also a reminder of the importance of retaking the House from the grasp of Kevin McCarthy and MAGA Republicans. Because if the far-right had its way – and controlled the Senate and White House – this policy would sail through to the president's desk.

We have to stop House Republicans in their tracks, but I need your help to defend our Democratic majority in the Senate and retake power in the House.

Please join our grassroots movement to stop MAGA Republicans.

More soon,

Ron