Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is publicly urging his Republican colleagues to wield the “nuclear option” and scrap the legislative filibuster for spending bills. The move, which would eliminate the 60-vote threshold to advance legislation, is Fetterman’s proposed remedy to reopen the federal government and ensure vital programs, like food assistance, continue.
“There are no winners here… People are going to start to get really hungry and I’ve been fully, fully committed to fund SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], open up the government,” Fetterman told reporters on Tuesday, arguing that people “need to eat.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat, who was one of a handful of Democrats to vote for the initial continuing resolution that failed, decried the current impasse as “just bad political theater.”
His most striking comment, however, was the call to permanently weaken the filibuster for appropriations. When asked if he would support the GOP ditching the rule for government funding, Fetterman was unequivocal.
“Carve it out for that, absolutely,” he stated. “We ran on that, we ran on killing the filibuster and now we love it. Carve it out so we can move on.”
Fetterman argued that the change would be “entirely appropriate” because it would make it “more difficult to shut the government down in the future.” He didn’t mince words for his own party either, adding, “I don’t want to hear any Democrat clutching their pearls about the filibuster. We all ran on it.”
The Senator’s support for the procedural move stands in sharp contrast to the current Democratic position on the filibuster, which many members have defended after previously attempting to eliminate it for voting rights legislation in 2022.
Fetterman, known for bucking the party line on issues like Israel and immigration since taking office in 2023, continues to position himself as an unpredictable figure willing to prioritize immediate action over Senate tradition. For now, his challenge hangs in the air: Will Republicans accept a Democrat’s dare to radically alter Senate rules to end a government shutdown?
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