Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) believes his fellow Democrats need to “own the shutdown” that is now in its second month.
The senator from Pennsylvania appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper Sunday morning, the Daily Wire reported.
Tapper asked Fetterman about the temporary stoppage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on Nov. 1 — and who he blames.
“As you know, 42 million Americans, including two million Pennsylvanians, will not receive food stamp or SNAP benefits this month because funding officially lapsed yesterday. The White House says this is the fault of Democrats for shutting down the government. Democrats note that the Trump administration is not dipping into the contingency funds for SNAP and they think that Trump is doing that to pressure Democrats. How do you see it? Who do you blame for this?” Tapper asked.
Fetterman said he was dismayed over the lapse of SNAP funding.
It was “one of the big reasons why I refuse to [shut] our government down,” Fetterman said. “And again, I feel like the Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down.”
“I know why they claim — because they want to address the tax credits, and I fully support that. I voted for all of their CRs, our CRs, every single time,” Fetterman continued. “And I refuse to put 42 million Americans in the kinds of food insecurity. … All is solved by just reopen[ing] our government and the people are now paid.”
Fetterman also said many unions and airlines are demanding that the Senate reopen the government.
“And do we really want to make flying less safe by forcing this kind of situation and making things that much [more] stressed?” he said.
