Fetterman Admits Democrats Are ‘Not Getting It Together’ During Shutdown Fight
Sen. John Fetterman publicly apologized Thursday for the inability of Senate Democrats to reach an agreement that would end the ongoing government shutdown.
Speaking with CNN reporter Manu Raju, Fetterman expressed frustration about the continuing political stalemate, warning that many federal employees remain without pay and that millions of families could soon struggle to put food on the table as funding for food assistance programs runs out.
During the interview, Fetterman admitted that the situation reflects poorly on lawmakers and acknowledged that his own party shares responsibility for the deadlock.
“To everyone watching, I’m sorry that we can’t even get our s— together and simply reopen the government,” Fetterman said.
The federal shutdown has now entered its fourth week as Democrats and Republicans in the Senate remain locked in disagreement over spending legislation needed to begin the new fiscal year. The standoff is also threatening the future of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, approximately 42 million Americans rely on SNAP benefits. Officials warn that if the shutdown continues, those benefits could be disrupted.
New funding for the program had originally been scheduled for distribution on November 1.
Fetterman said he expects to personally see the consequences when he returns home to Pennsylvania. His wife, Gisele Fetterman, helps operate a community food program known as the Free Store, which distributes groceries several times each week.
He noted that demand for food assistance in their community has already increased.
“My wife runs the Free Store in our area,” Fetterman explained. “They give out food three times a week, and the lines are already getting longer. Soon I’ll meet people who have lost their SNAP benefits, and I won’t have an explanation for them.”
Fetterman once again apologized on behalf of his Democratic colleagues, calling the prolonged gridlock in Washington a failure.
“All I can say is I’m sorry,” he said. “What has happened over the last month is an absolute failure, and now the consequences are going to hit families.”
He asked people to imagine the stress faced by parents trying to care for their children while vital support disappears.
“Think about being a parent with a couple of kids and wondering how you’re going to fill the fridge or pack their lunches when the support they rely on suddenly disappears because we can’t agree to reopen the government,” he said.
The Pennsylvania senator, who has repeatedly supported a continuing resolution to restore government funding, also criticized members of his own party for not reaching a compromise with Republican lawmakers.
“If Democrats can’t even agree to reopen the government, then our party has bigger problems than I thought,” Fetterman said. “That shouldn’t be controversial. Just pay people.”
He also pointed out that many government employees have been forced to borrow money simply to cover their daily expenses during the shutdown.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer strongly criticized Donald Trump in a video posted to social media, accusing the former president of contributing to the crisis.
“Donald Trump is a vindictive and heartless man,” Schumer said in the video. “No president before has allowed SNAP benefits to be cut off during a shutdown, including Trump during his first term.”
Schumer argued that the situation is being used as political leverage during negotiations over healthcare policy.
However, under the U.S. system, spending bills must be written and passed by Congress before they reach the president’s desk. The president can then sign the legislation into law or veto it.
Democrats have been pushing Congress to extend subsidies connected to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. These subsidies were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but were designed to expire at the end of the year.
Republican leaders have indicated they are open to discussing new subsidies for the healthcare program, but only after Congress passes a clean continuing resolution that would immediately reopen the government
The first time Dante Rossi touched his wife, she begged him not to hurt her.
The first time Dante Rossi touched his wife, she begged him not to hurt her.
He had not even meant to touch her.
He had only reached to lift the veil.
The conservatory at the edge of the Rossi compound still smelled of crushed lilies, damp earth, and expensive deceit. Outside, the final guests were being ushered to their cars by men with earpieces and holstered weapons hidden under black trench coats. Inside the master suite, Aria Sterling stood in the middle of the Persian rug like a porcelain doll someone had trapped in silk.
Her wedding dress was an armor of elegance. Heavy ivory silk. Long sleeves. A high collar. A train so thick and demanding it had taken two maids to carry it down the aisle of the cathedral.
At first, Dante had assumed the gown was merely traditional.
Then he saw what it was hiding.
A dark, mottled shadow peeked just above the silk near her collarbone. Another bruise, fading to a sickly green, curved along the delicate line of her jaw. When he brushed the tulle of her veil back, her entire body went rigid.
“Please,” she breathed. “Don’t hurt me.”
Dante’s hand stopped dead in the air.
He had been called a butcher, a phantom, the newly crowned king of Boston’s most unforgiving crime syndicate. He had heard grown men plead for their lives in empty warehouses. He had built his reign on an iron discipline so absolute that even his rivals confessed he was principled before he was lethal.
But nothing in his violent life had prepared him for the sound of his own bride pleading for mercy on their wedding night.
Aria’s gaze was glued to the floor. Her bottom lip quivered once before she bit down to force it still. She looked twenty-two and utterly broken by the world. The massive emerald on her finger weighed her down like a chain.
Dante took a slow step back.
“Who did that to you?”
Her eyelashes fluttered.
“No one.”
“Do not lie to me.”
“I fell.”
“On both sides of your neck?”
Her silence gave him the answer her voice wouldn't.
For a heartbeat, the oxygen seemed to vanish from the room. Beyond the frosted glass, Boston shimmered cold and indifferent through the heavy November rain. This marriage had been forged to extinguish a decades-old war between two distinct underworlds. Sterling political cover. Rossi brute force. A pact sealed with signatures, veiled threats, and champagne toasts.
Dante had braced himself for an entitled politician’s daughter who despised him.
He had not braced himself for a woman who had been trained to flinch before he even raised a hand.
Aria took a ragged, shallow breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For offending you.”
Dante just stared at her.
Then he turned on his heel, walked to the heavy oak door, and gripped the brass handle.
Aria’s head snapped up, pure panic flooding her eyes. “Where are you going?”
“To the guest wing.”
“But we’re expected to—”
“We’re expected to what?” His tone came out harsher than he wanted. He reined it in with sheer willpower. “Finalize the treaty? Give your father his proof? Let a compound full of armed guards think they own the rights to what happens in this bed?”
All the color drained from her face.
Dante squeezed the door handle until the metal dug into his palm. “Listen to me very closely, Aria. I do not lay hands on women who don’t want my touch. I do not extract obedience from someone who is already shivering in fear. This room is yours. The lock works from the inside. There is food in the adjoining kitchen. If you decide to walk out the front gates, no one will stand in your way.”
She stared at him as if he had just recited a poem in a dead language.
“You aren't mad?”
“I am enraged,” he said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. “Just not at you.”
Then he stepped out and left her alone.
Only when the latch clicked into place did Aria collapse against the edge of the mattress. She pressed both palms over her mouth, trembling so violently that the heavy silk of her dress rustled like dry leaves.
She thought she had just escaped one monster.
Perhaps she hadn't been traded to another after all.
But hope was a deadly thing. Hope made people drop their guard. And Aria Sterling had survived far too much violence to put her faith in a single act of grace.
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