WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said that Americans should not be used as leverage in the government shutdown.<\/p>\n
Fetterman reportedly said this in response to Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark who recently said the shutdown can be used as \u201cleverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be families that are going to suffer,\u201d Clark said last week<\/a>. \u201cWe take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u201d<\/p>\n Fetterman on Monday said that Americans aren\u2019t \u201cany party\u2019s leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the government has to open in order to pay Capitol Police, pay the military and to feed all the people that are on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Fetterman called the government shutdown a choice.<\/p>\n \u201cMost Americans would find it incredibly difficult to work for 5 weeks without a paycheck,\u201d he said on X<\/a>. \u201cThis shutdown is a choice. Let\u2019s end this and pay our workers\u2014a vote that shows principle over political party.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has been shut down for 28 days due to Congress not being able to pass a budget to fund the government.<\/p>\n Beginning Nov. 1, SNAP benefits will be paused<\/a> due to unavailable funds to support the program.<\/p>\n