Fetterman says he would support Republicans nuking filibuster to end government shutdown

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said Tuesday that he would support Senate Republicans nuking the filibuster to end the government shutdown.

Fetterman said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — also known as food stamps — is running out of funding and people “need to eat” as the government shutdown finishes its third week, The Hill news outlet reported.

“There are no winners here. It’s not getting better every day here. People are going to start to get really hungry, and I’ve been fully, fully committed to fund SNAP, open up the government,” Fetterman said, also noting that U.S. Capitol Police officers aren’t being paid during the shutdown.

“This is just bad political theater. Open it up,” he said.

When asked if he would support Republicans “nuking” the filibuster to let the House's funding measure pass the Senate with a simple-majority vote, rather than the 60-vote threshold, Fetterman replied affirmatively.

“Carve it out for that, absolutely,” Fetterman said of a proposal to create a carve-out for passing legislation through the Senate to allow the government to reopen.

“We ran on that. We ran on killing the filibuster, and now we love it. Carve it out so we can move on. I support it because it makes it more difficult to shut the government down in the future, and that’s where it’s entirely appropriate,” he said. “I don’t want to hear any Democrat clutching their pearls about the filibuster. We all ran on it.”