Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania put “The View’s” Sunny Hostin in her place when she tried to castigate him Tuesday for voting to reopen the government.
Fetterman and six of his fellow Democrats and one independent senator voted Monday with the Republican majority to end the filibuster, which had kept the federal government closed for a record 41 days.
Democrats from the minority position in the Senate had been trying to force Republicans to agree to $1.5 trillion in new health care spending, including keeping enhanced Obamacare subsidies in place that are due to expire at the end of this year.
The GOP consented to vote on the issue of the subsidies in December if Democrats agreed to open the government now.
Hostin began her harangue of Fetterman by pointing out that Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders described the move a “horrific mistake,” while California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “pathetic” and a “surrender.”
“Poll after poll found more Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the GOP!” Hostin said. “As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week. So you had momentum. Why give in now? Why bring a butter knife to a gunfight?”
“Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on health care in good faith once the government reopens?” Hostin asked. “Because if that gamble is wrong, half a million Pennsylvanians, that you represent, their health care costs will skyrocket if you are wrong. And I believe you are wrong.”
🚨 NEW 🚨 @JohnFetterman doesn’t take Sunny Hostin’s lecture as she tried to shame him for voting MULTIPLE TIMES to reopen government @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/0nzCWCUYK2
— Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) November 11, 2025
Is John Fetterman your favorite Democratic senator?
Fetterman responded, “MTG is quite literally the last person in America that I’m going to take advice to get their kind of leadership and my values from.”
“If Democrats are celebrating Crazy Pants like that, then that’s on them,” he continued. “And I don’t need a lecture from, whether it’s Bernie or the governor in California, because they are representing very deep-blue kinds of populations. And a lot of those things were part of the extreme.”
The senator argued that extremism was the reason the Democrats lost the White House and control of the Senate last fall.
Pennsylvania was one of the seven swing states that President Donald Trump carried in the 2024 election.
“I promise you, this isn’t a political game. It is viewed like that by many of us, but the reality is 42 million Americans now not sure where their next meal is going to come from,” he said.
Fetterman also pointed out that federal workers have not been paid in five weeks and have borrowed half a billion dollars just to pay their bills.
The Pennsylvania lawmaker was one of just three Democrats who crossed party lines early on to keep the government open.
“I follow country and then party, and it’s the wrong thing for the country. In a period of chaos, I refuse to vote to shut our government down,” he said, drawing applause from a NewsNation town hall audience in mid-October.
John Fetterman just blew up Democrats’ shut down narrative.
FETTERMAN: “Shutting the government is really what the Democratic Party wants to do… [Obamacare subsidies were] designed by the Democratic Party to expire … This is NOT something taken by the Republicans.” pic.twitter.com/VE4s1LRWDE
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 16, 2025
Fetterman indicated at the time he would support extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, but not at the expense of keeping the government closed.
Thankfully, there are still a few Democrat politicians around who are willing to put country over far-left politics.
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