EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU)— The debt ceiling bill passed the Senate despite one of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators not being on board.
Freshman Democrat John Fetterman was a hard “no.”
Tom, Fetterman’s vote was considered somewhat a surprise given that he has a history of siding with the Biden administration which urged passage of the bill.
But in the end, he indicated his vote came down to fairness.
While Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Bob Casey voted in favor of the bill to avoid what many considered the catastrophic consequences of the U.S. defaulting on its debt, fellow democrat john fetterman stood his ground and voted no.
When he did, he became one of four Democratic U.S. senators and one independent to reject raising the debt ceiling limit.
All of them indicated they weighed which was worse voting in favor of a bill they did not fully support, or voting against the measure because they did not like certain provisions the bill contained.
Fetterman is chairman of the nutrition subcommittee on agriculture and he found fault with the bill’s additional work requirements for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or “SNAP.”
“I did not agree with these snap restrictions, and I won’t give Republicans an opening to try and take more food from insecure Americans in farm bill negotiations later this year. That is why I voted no,”
Fetterman released a statement that reads in part
the statement went on to say, “as i communicated to leadership and the white house, i would have voted to avoid default if it would have made the difference. all in all, this was a tough vote and an ugly situation.”
Fetterman added while Congress avoided a catastrophe this time around, lawmakers should never put the country in this situation again.
