Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman tore into his own party for “moving against our core values” in shutting down the government and faulted Democrats for the “deeply distressing” lapse in food stamp funding.
“For me, fundamentally, it’s deeply, deeply distressing to know that 42 million Americans are going to lose their SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits,” Fetterman vented to CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“That’s one of the big reasons why I refuse to shut our government down,” the hoodie-wearing senator added. “I feel like the Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down.”
The Keystone State Democrat has been one of three Democratic-caucusing senators who voted against blocking the “clean” stopgap measure to reopen the government, alongside Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine).
Fetterman has also been one of the loudest Democratic critics of the government shutdown, at one point going so far as to call on the GOP to use the “nuclear option,” and eliminate the 60-vote threshold needed to break a filibuster.
Democrats have been leveraging the government shutdown fight in an attempt to extract concessions from Republicans on Medicaid and the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
On Saturday, funding for SNAP ran out, though a court has ordered the Department of Agriculture to tap into a contingency fund to keep the critical program afloat for a few more weeks.
President Trump announced Friday that he’s asked his legal team to get clarification about what he can do under the law, citing two conflicting court rulings.
The Pennsylvania Democrat previously explained that he will witness the impact of the shutdown fight firsthand because his wife runs a free store that provides food to the needy.
“This is an absolute fail,” Fetterman went on. “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.
“Now people can’t count on their SNAP benefits, and now also WIC [Women, Infants & Children] and Head Start. These are the kinds of people why I’m a Democrat, fighting for people just like that,” he lamented. “It seems like we’re moving against our core values to keep our government shut down.”
Fetterman acknowledged that he agrees with the Democrats’ goal of extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
“Right now, by doing this, our government shutdown, we’re getting neither of those things, and they guarantee neither,” he said. “You’re going to get your SNAP benefits, and you’re not going to get those kinds of tax credits that we all need.”
“Reopen this thing, and we can find a way forward. That’s the way democracy operates for right now.”
The post Fetterman says Dems are to blame for SNAP running out and ‘own’ gov’t shutdown: ‘we’re moving against our core values’ appeared first on New York Post.
