During Thursday’s episode of “Next Question with Katie Couric,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accusing him of putting 42 million Americans at risk of “mass food insecurity” amid the battle between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare subsidies and the recent government shutdown.
Couric asked Fetterman what he thought of critics like Sanders, who argue that Democrats voting with Republicans to reopen the government are paving “the way for 15 million people to be thrown off of Medicaid and the likelihood that premiums will double, triple, or even quadruple for 20 million Americans.”
Fetterman responded:
“Well, you know, Bernie should answer why he’s OK with putting 42 million Americans to face mass food insecurity, or he can explain to the military why it’s OK not to pay them and the tens of millions of Americans that are going to be flying and are flying.”
Eight Senate Democrats broke with party leadership to support a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) on Sunday night. President Donald Trump signed the bill on Wednesday, officially ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The shutdown stemmed from partisan clashes over healthcare provisions tied to government funding. Republicans accused Democrats of trying to extend benefits to non-citizens and noted that one proposal would repeal part of Trump’s earlier legislation that reduced Medicaid eligibility for undocumented immigrants. Democrats denied this, arguing instead that they were attempting to permanently extend Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025.
The short-term spending bill Trump signed does not include those extensions, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to hold a December vote on legislation continuing the subsidies.
Continuing to dispute Sanders’ criticism of the eight Democrats — including himself — who supported the CR, Fetterman acknowledged that while he shares “some of those priorities to extend those tax credits,” he and Sanders take different strategic approaches.
He added that securing funding for the ACA credits is far from guaranteed because the outcome ultimately rests with Trump.
“So this idea that it’s simple to achieve an ironclad kind of situation — that just doesn’t exist. And for me, that’s a risk I refuse to take,” he said. “And for them, they have a different view. But I think, for a committed Democrat, I think our party should accommodate that.”
After the vote, Sanders released a sharply worded video statement criticizing the Democrats who joined Republicans, calling it a “very, very bad vote.”
Sanders argued that the measure “raises healthcare premiums for over 20 million Americans by doubling, and in some cases tripling or quadrupling them.” He added that “people can’t afford that when we are already paying the highest prices in the world for healthcare.”
He also warned that “it paves the way for 15 million people to be thrown off of Medicaid,” which he said would lead to “some 50,000 Americans” dying unnecessarily each year — all to provide “a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1%.”
