Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) came out in support of the partisan Republican bill to fund the government and empower Elon Musk.
“The weeks of performative “resistance” from those in my party were limited to undignified antics,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. “Voting to shut the government down will punish millions or risk a recession. I disagree with many points in the CR, but I will never vote to shut our government down.”
“I refuse to burn the village down and to claim to save it,” Fetterman reiterated to reporters. “I probably won’t agree with many facets of that CR, but when the choice is about shutting the government down, I don’t want to be involved with that.”
The bill is not the usual continuing resolution that extends funding at the current level. Instead, it includes a slight increase in military spending and a $13 billion cut in domestic nondefense spending, according to NBC News.
The legislation was crafted by GOP leaders and the White House, shutting Democrats out completely.
Democrats took issue with how the bill was structured, saying it gave the Trump administration and billionaire Musk too much discretion in how to spend funds.
The bill narrowly passed in the House on a 217-213 vote with all Republicans except Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, supporting the legislation. One Democrat, Jared Golden (Maine) voted for it.
Fetterman is the lone Senate Democrat so far to come in support of the legislation. Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) said he will not support the bill.
Paul’s opposition means the bill needs at least eight Democratic senators to get it through the upper chamber and to Trump’s desk.
