In yet more bad news for Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as the senator attempts to hold together the Democrat coalition to keep the shutdown going in a desperate attempt to embarrass President Donald Trump, a plan that so far appears to be seriously backfiring for the senator’s party, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) sounded off on the disgraceful spectacle when speaking to the media.
Sen. Fetterman’s comments on the matter came when he was walking between the Congressional buildings after the 11th failed vote to refund the government and end the shutdown, a vote that occurred on Monday, October 20. Fetterman, disgusted, spoke to a reporter who asked, “What do you say to Democrats who have blocked this bill now 11 times?”
Responding, Sen. Fetterman said that it was “wrong” for his party to vote to keep the shutdown goings, saying, “Wrong, respectfully, wrong to do that. Open up the government. I believe John Thune is an honorable man, and I do believe we could have a serious conversation to talk about extending these tax credits.”
Continuing, he noted that while he supports extending the ACA subsid”ies, and always has, he thinks that the Senate should open up the government in the interim, saying, I’ve always supported that. You could, you know, check my record. I vote for that. And now no one can control what the President wants to do. I mean, he’s going to do what he’s going to whatever, but I do believe it’s entirely appropriate.”
He then demanded that Democrats get on board with him and Republicans to open the government back up, saying, “Now open it back up. We have to now, even people in my state…SNAP is gone, now, like, people need that to eat. And now this is about who’s winning, who’s like, well, people are America’s losing.”
He further added that food insecurity is already a major problem in America, and EBT and SNAP credits ending on November 1 would be a disaster for his constituents, meaning that Democrat policies are hurting their constituents, saying, “Democrats: your position is hurting your constituents right now, I’m saying that. You know, my wife has dedicated her professional career for food insecurity, and right now she’s doing it right now as we’re speaking. And now, food insecurity is a real thing.”
The senator then added that though he agrees with extending the tax credits that Democrats so want, he thinks that the government needs to be reopened immediately, as getting people who need them their food benefits is hugely important, and the government just needs to be opened generally. He said, “You know, I see that. I mean, people live that, and now, because we’re having this political back and forth, and it’s wrong, and that’s why I do believe we can achieve extending those tax credits. And that’s where we need to be right now. We’re into the month of that. That’s a core responsibility. Open the open it up. It’s crazy.”
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Watch the Senator here:
He was then asked what it means to Americans that Congress is going home every weekend, rather than staying to work through the shutdown, saying, “Senator. What message does it send that lawmakers are going home every weekend? Is it time to kind of batten down the hatches and stay here to get this done.”
Responding, Fetterman noted that people are suffering because of the shutdown that his party won’t end, saying, “What I’m saying, it’s like there are no winners here. It’s not getting better every day here. People are going to get start to get really hungry. And I’ve been fully, fully committed to fund, you know, SNAP…open up the government, and we don’t have to worry about this too. I’d love to where’s the Capitol Police? I think we have some here. You know, they’re not getting paid right now either. There’s other people not going to get paid. It’s like that impacts real people and these important kinds of jobs. This is not this is just bad political theater. You know, open it up.”
And, then, he was asked, “Is it frustrating to you that your party doesn’t seem to be changing its strategy on this for 21 days in now?” Fetterman said, “It is, it is frustrating, but that’s small compared to people that rely on SNAP or their next paycheck. You know, that’s absolutely and we’re getting paid. Yeah, so we do you have, do you have confidence in Chuck Schumer? And yes, of course, he’s, he’s our leader. But, and I believe we happen to disagree in this, we happen to agree. Back in March, we we had that conversation. I really led that charge. We gotta keep it open. And I said, I’ll be back here in the fall. And it’s, it’s, shouldn’t be here doing”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video