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In what appears to be Congress discovering the problem it created, James Lankford is pitching a fix for the government shutdown circus in an op-ed for The Hill. Alongside Americans for Prosperity’s Will Burger, Lankford argues that the endless cycle of shutdown threats, last-second deals, and bipartisan finger-pointing is, brace yourself, bad for the country. Federal workers miss paychecks, small businesses get jerked around, and public trust continues its slow march off a cliff. But don’t worry, Washington has a plan.

That plan comes in the form of the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2025, which promises to eliminate shutdowns by not allowing them to happen. Groundbreaking. If Congress can’t pass spending bills on time, the government would simply keep running under a temporary funding extension while lawmakers are locked in Washington, working seven days a week until they figure it out. No recess, no travel, no shiny new legislation, just the political equivalent of being held after class until the homework is done. It’s a concept so simple it raises the obvious question: why did it take decades of dysfunction to think of it?

Lankford frames the stakes as more than just political theater, pointing to ongoing funding lapses hitting agencies under Department of Homeland Security including TSA, FEMA, and cybersecurity teams during a time of global instability and rising threats. His argument: shutdowns don’t actually hurt politicians nearly as much as they hurt everyone else, so maybe flip that equation. The proposal wouldn’t end partisan fighting, because what would Washington D.C. be without it, but it aims to remove the incentive to light the economy on fire just to win an argument. Whether Congress willingly signs up for consequences to its own dysfunction, however, remains the real cliffhanger.