Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was in the hot seat Tuesday as “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin grilled him about his vote to end the government shutdown.
Hostin asked Fetterman, one of eight Democrats who voted in favor of the proposal, “Why bring a butter knife to a gunfight?” on Tuesday’s show, per Fox News.
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin pressed Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Tuesday on why he voted to end the government shutdown, accusing him of bringing “a butter knife to a gunfight.”
“As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week, so you had momentum. Why give in now? Why bring a butter knife to a gunfight? Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on healthcare in good faith once the government reopens? Because if that gamble is wrong, half a million Pennsylvanians that you represent, their healthcare costs will skyrocket if you are wrong,” Hostin said. “I believe you are wrong.”
From the beginning, Fetterman has been against the shutdown and voted with Republican senators to reopen the government.
Sens. Angus King (I-Maine); Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.); Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.); Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.); Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.); Tim Kaine (D-Va.); and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) joined Fetterman in voting to end the shutdown.
Hostin quoted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom as both criticized the eight senators in their vote. She also said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) “blamed the GOP.”
“MTG is quite literally the last person in America that I’m going to take advice or to get their kinds of my leadership and values from,” he countered, referring to Greene. “Now, if Democrats are celebrating crazy pants like that, then that’s on them.”
“Now, I don’t need a lecture from, whether it’s Bernie or the governor in California, because they are representing very deep-blue kinds of populations and a lot of those things were part of the extreme,” Fetterman added.
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He also stood up for those relying on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed their families.
“Forty-two million Americans now are not sure where their next meal is going to come from, and because we vote like that. Or people that haven’t been paid for five weeks now, and that kinds of chaos,” the senator said. “Those workers borrow more than half a billion dollars from their credit union just to pay their bills.”
He reiterated throughout the interview that the shutdown was fundamentally wrong.
“I refuse to weaponize the SNAP benefit for 42 million Americans that rely on feeding themselves and their family, or making flying in America, you know, less safe, or I refuse not to pay our military and all of the unions attached to all of this, and people. So for me it’s like I don’t agree with that tactic to respond to circumstances that we’re confronting on this,” he said.
