Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) told Fox & Friends Tuesday that “no one really knows” who is running the Democratic Party, pointing to a leadership void after denying reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reached out to moderates in the party seeking a compromise to end the government shutdown.
Fetterman was part of a group of eight Democratic caucus members who crossed party lines to vote with Republicans on a resolution to end the shutdown on Sunday, drawing criticism from within the party.
Schumer privately urged moderate Democrats to hold out, even as he publicly pushed for a resolution, Axios reported.
Speaking on Fox & Friends, Fetterman said he received “no outreach” during negotiations.
Asked by co-host Ainsley Earhardt about the report, the senator said: “Absolutely no. I was not in a conversation, or I never got outreach. Everyone understood, I led the charge back in March and said I know we’ll be back in September and I know where my vote will be then, too. It is always a hard yes to keep our government open,” he said.
He continued: “That’s my principle because it’s wrong to shut our government down and now we knew we would put 42 million Americans for SNAP and paying our military and the Capitol Police – I mean, people have [gone] five weeks without being paid, that is violation of my core values and I think our party’s, as well.”
Co-host Lawrence Jones followed up by asking who was actually steering the Democrats in Congress, Fetterman replied: “No one really knows.”
The senator added: “My values are reflected in my vote and the things that I support here, and if that might put me at odds with parts of my party, I’m OK with that. I mean, we need to be a big party, a big tent party. For me, these are reasonable. My party has always been opposing shutting our government down and not sure why it is controversial now to devote these things. I refuse to put all these people in the middle of political kinds of brinkmanship.”
Watch above via Fox News.
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