“I can’t ever or will ever vote to shut our government down,” Fetterman told Fox News.
“It was wrong if the Republicans did these things, and I led that charge back in March, saying it’s wrong to shut us down, and we kept it open. I said in March that when September comes, I’m going to be the one guy that says it’s wrong to do this. The losers are these poor Americans here that are going to get caught in the middle of this thing.”
A sticking point for Democrats has been health care, particularly wanting their Republican counterparts to extend the tax credits in the Affordable Care Act, which expire at year’s end. Fetterman rejected tying the debate over ACA credits to a shutdown.
“Now, I fully support—let’s have a conversation—to extending those tax credits,“ Fetterman said. “I think a lot of Republicans might even agree with that, too. ... That’s a priority for us, and they might agree. But, you know, let’s have our government open and have that conversation so people can get paid and we can’t have this kind of chaos.”
He cast himself as breaking with parts of his party on the issue.
"I understand my party may want to shut our government down, " he said. “I’ll be a Democrat saying, ‘Hey, that’s wrong.’ That’s why I’m choosing country over party on this.” (More)