Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said during a Saturday appearance on Fox News that the United States “is losing” as his own party continues to resist efforts to end the ongoing 25-day government shutdown.
Speaking with “Saturday in America” host Kayleigh McEnany, Fetterman said he wishes Democrats would agree to reopen the government before negotiating over expiring subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act.
The subsidies, which fund premium assistance under the federal healthcare law, have been a central sticking point preventing Democrats from supporting a deal with Republicans.
In recent weeks, Fetterman has separated himself from most members of his party by repeatedly voting in favor of GOP-backed continuing resolutions to fund the government and by supporting multiple bills ensuring pay for military service members during the shutdown.
“I do believe that there’s a critical mass of my fellow Democrats that are dug in and now, until there’s an absolute ironclad kind of a deal,” Fetterman said.
“And I do fundamentally believe [Senate Majority] Leader [John] Thune is an honorable guy and I do believe we could have a sincere conversation after we can open it [the government] up.”
He went on to criticize the ongoing political gridlock, likening the situation to a street con game.
“And then, we don’t have to do this three-card monte, about, you know, do this, do that, do the other thing,” he said.
“Let’s just open it up, and then we have our SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], we have everyone’s paid. And then we can have that conversation and see if we can extend those tax credit deals because I do believe there are enough Republicans that would like to see that too.”
The federal SNAP program, which provides food assistance to roughly 42 million Americans, including 2 million residents in Pennsylvania, is projected to run out of funds in November 2025 if the government shutdown continues.
“And now, for me, I don’t check, it’s like, ‘Are we winning?’, ‘Are we losing?’, and the thing— it’s like, because, I guarantee America is losing in this place right now,” Fetterman told McEnany.
During the interview, McEnany also asked whether it was time for Republicans to “nuke the filibuster and end this thing.”
“I think it’s entirely appropriate,” Fetterman replied.
The filibuster, a procedural rule that requires 60 votes to advance most Senate legislation, has been used repeatedly by Democrats in recent weeks to block GOP proposals to end the shutdown.
Fetterman noted the shift in his party’s position on the issue, reminding viewers that Democrats previously campaigned on eliminating the filibuster when Republicans were in the minority.
“And I would remind all of us — the Democrats — we wanted to nuke the entire filibuster. You know, I’m referring to, right now, carving out the specific— right now,” Fetterman said.
“I’m not talking about eliminating the entire filibuster.”
He added that a limited change to the rule could prevent future government shutdowns.
“And carving it out, the filibuster, now would make it almost impossible to shut our government down in the future, regardless if it’s the Democrats or the Republicans doing these things. We should remove ourselves, our power to shut this down in this way,” the senator told McEnany.
Fetterman continued his criticism later in the week, telling reporters Tuesday that Democrats had reversed their earlier stance on the procedural rule.
“We ran on that. We ran on killing the filibuster, and now we love it,” he said.
Speaking again on Thursday, Fetterman expressed frustration with both parties over the impasse.
“Just open up the whole thing and just cut the shit. I don’t care about who’s winning, who’s losing, who’s going to blink,” he said.
The Senate remains at an impasse as leadership from both parties work toward a new funding agreement.
The shutdown, now in its fourth week, has led to widespread furloughs across federal agencies and delayed pay for hundreds of thousands of government employees.
