Fetterman says Sanders should explain letting ’42 million Americans face mass food insecurity’ during shutdown
During Thursday’s episode of “Next Question with Katie Couric,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accusing him of putting 42 million Americans at risk of “mass food insecurity” amid the fight between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare subsidies and the recent government shutdown.
Couric asked Fetterman what he thought of those like Sanders, who insist that Democrats voting alongside Republicans to re-open the government are paving “the way for 15 million people to be thrown off of Medicaid and the likelihood that premiums will double, triple, or even quadruple for 20 million Americans.”
“Well, you know, Bernie should answer why he’s OK with putting 42 million Americans to face mass food insecurity, or he can explain to the military why it’s OK not to pay them and the tens of millions of Americans that are going to be flying and are flying,” Fetterman responded.
Eight Senate Democrats broke with their party leadership to vote in favor of a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) on Sunday night. President Donald Trump signed the bill on Wednesday, officially ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The standoff between Republicans and Democrats originated over disagreements about various healthcare provisions to include in a potential funding measure. Trump and Republicans claimed Democrats wanted to provide illegal immigrants healthcare, and pointed to a provision that would repeal part of Trump’s tax and domestic policy bill known as the “big, beautiful bill” that reduced Medicaid eligibility for non-U.S. citizens.
Democrats pushed back on this characterization, and said they want to permanently extend certain Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025.
The stopgap spending bill that Trump signed does not extend these subsidies by the end of the year, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to a vote in December on legislation that would continue these credits.
FETTERMAN SAYS DEMOCRATS SENDING ‘WRONG MESSAGE’ WITH GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STANCE AMID FUNDING FIGHT
Continuing to push back on Sanders’ criticisms of the Democratic senators who voted to pass the CR — including himself — Fetterman conceded that while he shares “some of those priorities to extend those tax credits,” the two senators have a “different tactic” in approaching a solution.
He also added that there was “no guarantee” of securing funding for the ACA credits because “it’s all going to come down to Trump, and he really has the ability to just change everything.”
“So this idea that there was it’s simple to achieve an ironclad kind of situation that just doesn’t exist. And for me, that’s a risk I refuse to take,” he continued. “And for them, they have a different view. But I think, for a committed Democrat, I think our party should accommodate that.”
Following the passage of the CR on Sunday, Sanders tore into the eight Democratic senators who joined Republicans to advance the resolution, calling it a “very, very bad vote” in a video posted to his X account.
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“Tonight, 8 Democrats voted with the Republicans to allow them to go forward on this continuing resolution,” Sanders said. “And to my mind, this was a very, very bad vote.”
The Vermont senator argued that the measure “raises healthcare premiums for over 20 million Americans by doubling, and in some cases tripling or quadrupling them,” and added that “people can’t afford that when we are already paying the highest prices in the world for healthcare.”
He continued, arguing that “it paves the way for 15 million people to be thrown off of Medicaid. Studies show that will mean some 50,000 Americans will die every year unnecessarily. And all of that was done to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1%.”
Sanders’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
