‘This Is Not Some Sh*tty Gameshow’: Fetterman Demands Democrats ‘Be Better Than This’ and Open the Government

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is calling on his fellow Democrats to “be better than this” and reopen the government.

The senator from Pennsylvania spoke with CNN’s Manu Raju about how his constituents were reacting to the upcoming end in SNAP food benefits.

“I will witness it firsthand,” Fetterman said. “My wife, Giselle, she develops the Free Store in our community and it distributes food there times a week. And her lines have already got longer. And now I will encounter people that have no SNAP benefits starting on Saturday, and I don’t have an explanation for them. All I can say is, I’m sorry.”

Fetterman continued:

It’s an absolute failure what occurred here the past month. And now things are really going to land. And imagine being a parent with a couple kids, and how you’re going to fill their refrigerator, and pack their lunches, and get on with their lives when the things that they depended on now is gone because we can’t even agree to open things up…And like I said to all of the viewers I’m apologizing that we can’t even get our shit together and just open our government.

Raju asked Fetterman about Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) claim that “every day gets better” for Democrats politically as the shutdown wears on.

“Yeah, well ask the hungry people on Saturday,” Fetterman shot back. “Americans are not leverage. This is not some shitty gameshow about who’s winning or whatever. It’s just like, we have to be better than this and just open this up.”

Fetterman claimed that he’s talked to “any number of Republicans who they agree that we have this conversation about extending the tax credits.”

Democrats have refused to vote to reopen the government unless Republicans meet to discuss extending the Obamacare tax credits that make health care affordable for some 24 million Americans. Republicans refuse to discuss anything until the government reopens.

Watch the clip above via CNN.