{"id":17099,"date":"2025-10-26T10:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/17099\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T10:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:12:10","slug":"john-fetterman-ditches-dems-in-shutdown-vote-urges-to-put-america-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/17099\/","title":{"rendered":"John Fetterman ditches Dems in shutdown vote, urges to put America first"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government shutdown has stretched into<\/a> one of the longest in U.S. history<\/a>, with Democrats and Republicans deadlocked over healthcare funding.<\/p>\n

Among the few lawmakers breaking ranks is Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa, who voted with Republicans to reopen the government. Now, he\u2019s urging his colleagues to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an easy, easy choice to pick my country over the party, especially in circumstances like this,\u201d Fetterman said on \u201cSaturday in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Senate failed in a 54-46 vote to advance a Republican bill to pay certain federal workers during the shutdown, falling short of the 60 votes needed to pass the measure. Only three Democrats, including Fetterman, voted with Republicans.<\/p>\n

Democrats have refused to back any funding bill unless it includes an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire in 2025. They argue that failing to act before open enrollment in November could drive up premiums for millions of Americans.<\/p>\n

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) speaks to reporters outside of the United States Capitol Senate Chambers on the first day of the federal government shutdown on October 1, 2025. Jack Gruber-USA TODAY via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

But Republicans say the government needs to reopen<\/a> before they can negotiate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe that there\u2019s a critical mass of my fellow Democrats that are dug in until there\u2019s an absolute ironclad kind of a deal,\u201d Fetterman said, explaining his party\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

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But Fetterman said he believes Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is an \u201chonorable guy\u201d and that talks on healthcare will move forward when the government is reopened.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just open it up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

National Guard members and visitors walk near the White House, weeks into the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we can have that conversation to see if we can extend those tax credit deals, because I do believe there are enough Republicans that would like to see that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shutdown began Oct. 1, shuttering nonessential federal offices and delaying pay for hundreds of thousands of workers. As it entered its fourth week, many federal employees missed their first full paycheck.<\/p>\n

US Democrat Senator of Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, adresses the media at the US Capitol. WILL OLIVER\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The impact on the federal government\u2019s nutrition program is a major issue for Fetterman and one reason he believes lawmakers need to set aside differences and focus on getting people fed.<\/p>\n

He said that amid the standoff, neither political side is winning the battle. Instead, the entire country is losing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Are we winning? Are we losing?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I guarantee America is losing in this place right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government shutdown has stretched into one of the longest in U.S. history, with Democrats and Republicans deadlocked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2564,11995,1208,7381,9,11,10,87,11996],"class_list":{"0":"post-17099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-government-shutdown","9":"tag-john-fetterman","10":"tag-media","11":"tag-mike-johnson","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-senators"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}