Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) slammed House Republicans for driving the nation toward a federal shutdown.
“There’s not one single senator in the Senate that wants this. And on their side in the House, this is petty chaos,” he told MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Tuesday.
“The last time they did this kind of thing, you know, it resulted in another credit downgrade,” he said. “If they want to be this stupid to do this again, they’re going to pay in ’24.”
Fetterman added that the American people will be the ones who suffer if Republicans fail to approve spending legislation to keep the government operating.
“There’s absolutely nothing to gain. And like I said, it’s just petty chaos by diminished men,” he said.
The government will shut down on Oct. 1, furloughing millions of federal employees, unless Congress breaks its stalemate on spending legislation.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), cornered by a right-wing flank demanding spending cuts, has been unable to unite his caucus to pass the annual bills needed to fund the federal government.
The Senate is trying to push through a bipartisan bill that would keep the lights on until November, but it faces poor odds in the GOP-led House.
Fetterman pledged last week to don a suit ― assuaging Republicans up in arms about his casual work attire ― if “those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine.”
At this stage, with just days before the deadline and no solution in sight, it looks like Fetterman can comfortably keep his hoodie on.
Watch the interview below on MSNBC’s “ReidOut.”