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Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) says the repeated Democratic warnings that President Trump is trying to turn the United States into an “autocracy” are at odds with the hardline stance Democratic leaders have taken on a government funding bill, which is likely to result in a shutdown that would only empower Trump.
Fetterman has made it crystal clear that he thinks a government shutdown would be a disaster, and says he will vote for a House-passed continuing resolution to keep federal departments and agencies operating through Nov. 21.
“If Democrats truly believe we’re on a rocket sled to autocracy, why would we hand a shuttered government over to Trump and Vought’s woodchipper at the OMB?” Fetterman said in a statement to The Hill, referring to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
“I’m unwilling to vote for mass chaos and run that risk,” Fetterman added.
Fetterman is worried that a shutdown would give the administration broad power to keep certain federal departments and agencies closed and to cherry-pick which government services are deemed essential and which aren’t.
Meanwhile, many other Democrats continue to warn that Trump is trying to ruthlessly expand his power, either by launching unauthorized military strikes against Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean or by threatening the broadcast licenses of major news outlets, such as ABC.
Schumer warned about what Democrats see as a slide toward dictatorship again on Friday morning.
“When Donald Trump says the [Federal Communications Commission] should consider revoking the licenses of networks with shows and hosts who are against me and who only give me bad publicity, he is talking about dictatorship. That’s what dictatorships do,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Fetterman, who has shown a willingness to break with party leaders on big votes, says he doesn’t see a difference between now and March, when Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) warned that a government shutdown would give Trump and Vought “the keys to the city, the state and the country.”
Schumer was one of 10 members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted in March for a partisan resolution funding the government for six months because they worried a shutdown would be catastrophic.
“Many federal employees and government experts are rightly worried that a temporary shutdown could lead to permanent cuts,” Schumer said at the time.
“Second, if we enter a shutdown, Congressional Republicans would weaponize their majorities to cherry-pick which parts of the government to reopen,” he warned.
Schumer now has a different view of how a government shutdown would play out.
The Democratic leader told reporters this week that Democrats are in a better position because Trump’s approval rating has fallen and members of his party are unified behind the message that any government funding bill must include spending to address what they call the crisis of rising health-care costs around the country.
“It’s much different now,” he said. “The Republicans are in a much weaker position now than they were then. The [One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,] which they have passed, is highly unpopular with the American people.”
“Second, Democrats are unified. We have been strong on the same message for a very long time, which is we need to help the American people lower their cost, particularly on health care and we need a bipartisan negotiation,” he added.
And Schumer cited the “unlawfulness” of the Trump administration freezing congressionally appropriated funding and trying to claw some of it back through a “pocket rescission.”
