John Fetterman: 'We Can't Shut The Government Down To Claim To Save It'

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) speaks out against a government shutdown.

Transcript

00:00So, Senator, were you just in lunch, and can you tell us a little bit about how it went?

00:06In lunch?

00:07The Democratic lunch.

00:08I didn't go.

00:09Oh, okay.

00:10Well, what's your sense of the government, the impending government shutdown?

00:14Well, I've been very clear.

00:16If the House passes that CR and sends it over here, then, and there's parts of it that I don't agree with,

00:23but I vote for it because that's about shutting down the government.

00:29And I refuse to ever vote or withhold my vote that would turn into shutting the government down.

00:36For me, that turns into we would burn the village down in order to claim to save it.

00:43And that's chaos.

00:44And despite all of the chaos after, whether it's the Doge and some of the other tariffs,

00:50you know, if we shut the government down, then that's going to have a significant impact

00:55in the lives of millions and millions of Americans, undeniably.

00:59And if you are concerned that our economy is teetering into a recession,

01:04well, if the Democrats vote to shut it down, then now who's going to own that

01:11if the government shutdown, you know, spreads throughout the economy?

01:17Oh, she likes, you know, Wyoming trade.

01:21Okay, well, yeah, she'd bring me over here.

01:24And we want to keep talking to you, though.

01:25But at any rate, so yeah.

01:28Oh, yeah.

01:29Well, we want to keep talking to you, though.

01:31So you would vote whoever to shut down.

01:34I would not.

01:36I would not vote to shut the government down or withhold my vote.

01:40Yes.

01:41And I don't know what my colleagues are going to do,

01:43but I am describing that we can't shut the government down to claim to save it.

01:48That's untenable.

01:50And for me, that's one of our core responsibilities to keep our government working.

01:55Have you been speaking to your colleagues about this at all?

01:59Or have you heard from any of them about it?

02:02I really don't know, you know.

02:05What do you say to Democrats in your party who say that Democrats really need to take a stand,

02:10they need to do something, and that this is a—

02:13Well, you know, that stand that you take is going to shut the government down,

02:17claiming that we want to help and save the government.

02:20That's my point.

02:21I'm not going to burn the village down claiming to save the village.