The Democratic senator has been criticized for his decision to vote with Republicans to open the government.
In a recent interview, U.S. Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, blamed his own party for the ongoing government shutdown.
He said Democrats are “moving against our core values” by causing the shutdown, leading to a lapse in federal benefits that hardworking Americans rely on.
“For me, fundamentally, it’s deeply, deeply distressing to know that 42 million Americans are going to lose their SNAP benefits,” Fetterman said in the interview.
Fetterman has historically said he will never vote for a government shutdown, and has voted with Senate Republicans to reopen the government since it first considered the continuing resolution passed by the House.
“That’s one of the big reasons why I refuse to shut our government down,” said Fetterman over SNAP benefits.
“I feel like the Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down.”
Fetterman is one of three senators who caucus with Democrats that voted in support of the continuing resolution that would reopen the government. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat of Nevada, and Senator Angus King, an Independent of Maine, also voted for the measure.
While Republicans passed the measure that would fund the government and keep benefits flowing for Americans, Democrats have been leveraging the shutdown to attempt to force Republicans to extend COVID-era Obamacare subsidies that have expired.
Republican leadership have expressed their willingness to negotiate and continue the conversation on the subsidies, but only after the government is open and funded.
“This is an absolute fail. It’s embarrassing, honestly, if we can’t even kind of get – keep the lights on like this, and now reminding everybody federal workers have had to borrow more than a third of a billion dollars just to pay their own bills,” Fetterman said in the interview.
“Now people can’t count on their SNAP benefits, and now also WIC and Head Start. These are the kinds of people why I’m a Democrat, fighting for people just like that. It seems like we’re moving against our core values to keep our government shut down,” he continued.
Senator Fetterman expressed similar feelings as Congressional Republicans, saying, “Reopen this thing, and we can find a way forward. That’s the way democracy operates for right now.”
