Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is frustrated a this fellow Democrats said the government shutdown reaches its fifth week.
The senator expressed his frustration — especially at the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) expiring Saturday — on CNN Thursday, per the Daily Wire.
“It’s an absolute failure,” Fetterman of the 40 million low-income Americans could lose access to food benefits.
“Imagine being a parent with a couple kids and how you’re going to fill their refrigerator and pack their lunches and get on with their lives when the things that they’ve depended on is (sic) gone because we can’t even agree to just open things up. … I’m apologizing that we can’t even get our sh** together and just open up our government,” he continued.
Fetterman spoke as the Senate adjourned without results, as the U.S. heads into the 34th day of the shutdown — the longest shutdowns in U.S. history.
The stalemate comes as families deal with high grocery prices and strained food banks.
Fetterman of his wife, Gisele’s, free store in Braddock, Pennsylvania, which distributes food several times a week.
The lines are growing by the day.
“I’ll encounter people this weekend that have no SNAP benefits. I don’t have an explanation for them,” he said. “All I can say is I’m sorry.”
Fetterman has been one if the few Democrats to vote in favor of ending the shutdown.
He also lashed out at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) who said the shutdown was “getting better for us.”
“Ask the hungry people on Saturday. Americans are not leverage,” Fetterman said. “This is not some sh**ty game show about who’s winning.”
