I’ll be the first to acknowledge that when he was running for the Senate in 2022, I didn’t expect I’d be using the words “John Fetterman” and “sage” in the same sentence (or a headline), but credit where it’s due: The now senior senator from Pennsylvania has shown himself to be rational on a number of topics and not beholden to the hard left which seems to be leading Democratic leadership and so much of his party around by the nose.
On Sunday, Fetterman joined Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union to discuss the potential of a government shutdown, given the fast-approaching September 30 deadline for government funding. Bash had previously interviewed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the matter, and Fetterman’s observations were largely in response to that.
BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.
You just heard from the leader of Senate Democrats. He hasn’t convinced everyone in his party that he’s on the right track.
Here with me now is Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
Thank you so much for being here, sir.
It does sound like we could be headed for a government shutdown. What’s your response to the leader of your party in the Senate?
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes, I know. It does seem that.
And I have been — at least been one that says, hey, now I would love to restore a lot of those health care things. That’s the right outcome, but that’s a dangerous tactic if you are going to shut the government down for one of our policies do.
I think it’s the right thing to extend those health care things, but it is absolutely the wrong thing for a lot of reasons that we’re going to shut our government down. I condemned it when the Republicans threatened to do that thing, and it’s entirely wrong for us to do the same thing now.
BASH: And you heard Senator Schumer say that, if the government shuts down, it would be on the Republicans. Who do you think would get the blame?
FETTERMAN: I really — I don’t know. I don’t know.
But what people will know is that that’s going to have a profound impact on millions of Americans, and that’s the wrong kinds of chaos that our country needs right now in this time, I mean, after the Kirk assassination and a lot of the other kinds of drama.
And now, for me, as a Democrat, if you are concerned by a lot of these changes that have occurred during the Trump presidency, why would you turn over a shuttered government over to Vought and the OMB to effectively remake the government in all kinds of ways? I refuse to be a part of things to empower individuals that really want to take away union workers and eliminate more kinds of parts of the government.
And that would allow them to redefine exactly what’s essential and what is not. And, for me, I’m not sure we have the appropriate kinds of leverage. Now, to be clear, I hope, I hope they decide to restore a lot of those health care things. But, for me, I don’t think — like I said, it’s the right outcome, but it’s the wrong tactic at this time always, always to shut our government down.
Bash then posed the key follow-up question: Fetterman may not be in favor of a shutdown, but what about his fellow Democrat senators? Are there others who share his view and would vote with the Republicans to oppose it?
BASH: Republicans would need seven Democrats to vote for their funding bill in order to avoid a government shutdown. You’re one. Have you spoken to any of your Democratic colleagues?
FETTERMAN: Oh, yes.
BASH: Would they vote with you?
FETTERMAN: Yes, I am — I am a confirmed no. I really led that charge back in March, because I thought it was wrong then too. It’s always wrong to shut our government down.
I will be a Democrat, and I understand that our base wants these kinds of things, but I will be an honest Democrat that says, hey, I think that’s not it. I don’t agree with the vast majority of the things that have happened, but now I refuse to add massive chaos under this.
And then, if that — I think they want us to shut the government down because that it would allow them to do further things that they aren’t able to or now constrained by the judges right now.
BASH: Are there six other Democrats?
FETTERMAN: So, for me, I haven’t talked — I haven’t gotten a straight answer from any of my colleagues what that is. Will the votes be there or not? I have said it will be there for me, not because I — I voted for the Democratic C.R. to restore all of those kinds of health care things.
And I also believe it’s not the kinds of chaos that our country can withstand at this point.
Will Schumer heed Fetterman’s advice? I’m skeptical, though we do know that he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) are calling for a meeting with President Trump to discuss the potential shutdown, and Trump has signaled his openness to such a meeting. The cynic in me says that may just be for show on the part of Democrat leadership so they can then assert the president’s terms are unreasonable and spin the shutdown as the Republicans’ fault. Either way, we’ll know in eight days.
