Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa) joined Senate Republicans Friday in voting for their plan to prevent a potential government shutdown, being the lone Democrat to do so.
Fetterman has been vocal about his strong desire to avoid a shutdown in the lead-up to Friday’s vote when he crossed the aisle to support a Republican-led continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government at current spending levels.
He also voted for the Democratic proposal, which would have kept the government open and also reversed cuts to Medicaid from President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
His vote for the Republican plan “affirms that, despite their refusal to restore health care, I am unwilling to vote to shut down our government and unleash massive, national chaos,” Fetterman wrote in a statement on X Friday afternoon.
The Republican plan passed the GOP-controlled House 217-212 earlier Friday before being blocked in the Senate, where the legislation has to meet a 60-vote threshold to pass.
The GOP plan failed 44 to 48 with two Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joining Democrats in voting against the measure.
“Any Republican who votes for this, I guess maybe they should apologize to Biden for being against his spending levels, because they’re actually voting for his spending levels,” Paul said this week.
With the rejection of both the Democratic and GOP plans, lawmakers are now in crunch time to approve legislation by Sept. 30 to avert a shutdown set to take effect on Oct. 1 at 12:01 a.m. when the new federal fiscal year begins.
A shutdown would shutter federal agencies and furlough non-essential government employees — many of whom have already experienced increasing uncertainty and plummeting morale under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The failure of the competing bills resulted in finger-pointing between party leaders with Democrats accusing the GOP of not negotiating on healthcare priorities, while Republicans said Democrats’ demand would increase spending, The Associated Press reported.
The Democratic plan would have permanently extended Affordable Care Act subsidies currently set to expire at the end of the year. The measure failed 47 to 45 in a party line vote, which was skipped by seven Republicans, according to NBC.
Fetterman wrote in his statement he was “deeply disappointed” the healthcare measures were not adopted.
In March, during the last potential shutdown, 10 Democrats helped avert that fate, including Fetterman.
The senior senator from Pennsylvania told The Hill Friday that he’s concerned, however, that Democratic rhetoric about Trump creating an “autocracy” in the United States is at odds with the party’s strategy to pass a funding plan.
“If Democrats truly believe we’re on a rocket sled to autocracy, why would we hand a shuttered government over to Trump and [Office of Management and Budget Director Russell] Vought’s woodchipper at the OMB?” Fetterman said in a statement to The Hill.
“I’m unwilling to vote for mass chaos and run that risk,” he added.
Fetterman has only been known to frequently work across the aisle, sometimes to the chagrin of his Democratic supporters.
For instance, earlier this year, Fetterman indicated his support for several of Trump’s cabinet picks and he even visited the president in his residence at Mar-a-Lago.
But it appears for Fetterman, avoiding a government shutdown is not a partisan issue.