Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman torched Senate Democrats for threatening to plunge the country into a partial government shutdown Thursday morning.
Fetterman blasted Democrats’ opposition to the government spending bill as “total theater” and emphasized the importance of avoiding a lapse in government funding, citing the risk of a recession in a post on X Thursday morning. His scathing criticism upends Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s claim that Democrats are unified in opposition to the GOP spending bill that will fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The government is scheduled to undergo a partial shutdown on Friday after midnight absent at least eight Senate Democrats joining their Republican colleagues in passing the House GOP stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR).
“Shut the government down, plunge the country into chaos, risk a recession or Exchange cloture for a 30 day CR that 100% fails,” Fetterman wrote. “The House GOP CR will then pass the Senate because it only needs 51 votes. Total theater is neither honest with constituents nor a winning argument.”
Shut the government down, plunge the country into chaos, risk a recession
or
Exchange cloture for a 30 day CR that 100% fails.
The House GOP CR will then pass the Senate because it only needs 51 votes.
Total theater is neither honest with constituents nor a winning argument. pic.twitter.com/U2gtVkp6yS
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 13, 2025
Fetterman’s criticism of Senate Democrats’ tactics in the government funding as not being honest with their constituents nor a “winning argument” comes as Senate Republicans brand the looming expiration of government funding as the “Schumer Shutdown.”
“The Democrats are engaged in performance art because they’re having a full on psychological crisis,” Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday.
Senate Democrats’ approval rating is nearing record lows and the conference was dealt another blow in its bid to retake control of the upper chamber in 2026 when New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced Wednesday she will retire rather than run for reelection. The open New Hampshire senate seat will be a top-pick up opportunity for Senate Republicans to grow their 53-47 majority during the 2026 midterms.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats will oppose the GOP government funding bill. He urged Senate Republicans to consider a 30-day short-term funding bill drafted by Democratic appropriators instead to give appropriators more time to negotiate an omnibus spending package, which is likely a nonstarter for Senate GOP leadership.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their [continuing resolution] without any input — any input — from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”
“Our caucus is unified on a clean [CR through April 11] that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass,” Schumer continued.
Senate Republicans have consistently pointed out that Schumer failed to bring bipartisan appropriations bills that passed out of committee to the floor for consideration when he led the Democratic-controlled Senate during the last Congress.
“If the Democrats here in the Senate do not join us as Republicans to pass something along that nature, they will be shutting down the government,” Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told Bloomberg TV on March 5. “We know that’s a road to nowhere, a disservice to every American … We should have dealt with this last year, but Senator Schumer did not even pick up one of our appropriations bills that we passed last year.”
Fetterman previously committed to voting “yes” on the CR, citing the necessity of avoiding a partial government shutdown that would furlough tens of thousands of federal workers and potentially risk a recession.
The Trump-backed CR narrowly passed the House Tuesday evening in a vote of 217 to 213 with just one House Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voting for the spending bill.
Andi Napier contributed to this report.
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