‘Not Some Sh*tty Game Show’: Fetterman Says Schumer Forgets ‘Americans Are Not Leverage’

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania blasted Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York over the government shutdown in an interview posted on social media Thursday, saying it was an “absolute failure.”

The federal government entered a partial shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on October 1 after the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster after the House of Representatives passed the short-term funding bill on September 19. Manu Raju, CNN’s chief congressional correspondent, asked Fetterman about Schumer’s assertion that the shutdown benefits Democrats politically. (RELATED: Mike Rounds Explains How Democrats Created Obamacare Premium Hikes)

“Yeah, well, ask the hungry people on Saturday. You know, that’s the problem…Americans are not leverage,” Fetterman said. “It’s not… it’s not a crappy game show about who wins or anything. It’s just… we need to be better than that and just open this up. And I’m talking to a number of Republicans as well. They’re OK with us having this conversation about extending these tax credits.”

WATCH:

In an earlier part of the interview, Fetterman spoke about his wife Gisele’s efforts to provide food to the less fortunate.

“I’m saying I’ll witness it firsthand. My wife Gisele, she’s developing a free store in our community, and it’s handing out food three times a week, and her lines have already gotten longer and now I’ll be meeting people who don’t have SNAP benefits starting Saturday, and I don’t have an explanation for them,” Fetterman told Raju. “All I can say is I’m sorry. It’s an absolute failure, what happened here last month, and now things are really going to crash. And imagine being a parent with a few kids and how you’re going to stock their fridge, make their lunches, and get on with their lives when the things they depend on now are gone because we can’t even agree to open things up.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, helps approximately 42 million Americans. SNAP benefits will not be provided on November 1 if a continuing resolution is not passed.

“Democrats, if we’re not allowed to open this up, I mean, then our party is going to be in bigger trouble than I already thought. It’s like, it’s not controversial, pay everyone,” Fetterman told Raju. “And our workers here are borrowing over a third of a billion dollars to pay their own bills. It’s a failure. And I said, to all the viewers, I apologize that we can’t even get our act together and just open up our government.”

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