The Democrats have voted more than a dozen times to block a Continuing Resolution (CR) that would reopen the government, and they're not shy about saying why they want the Schumer Shutdown to drag on. Rep. Katherine Clark (MA-05), as well as Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have all said their party plans to use the suffering of Americans as political leverage in their shutdown battle against President Trump.
This clearly means they're fine with 40 million people losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on November 1, because they hope to use people's hunger (and the uptick in protests and crime) as a political cudgel.
But John Fetterman, the last sane Democrat, is calling out his party for "playing chicken" with the food security of tens of millions of people.
As a committed Democrat, I’m dismayed my party is playing chicken with the food security of 42M Americans.
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) October 28, 2025
I reject a political gamble that exposes a vulnerable constituency to widespread deprivation and chaos.
Fetterman is one of three Democrats who have consistently voted with Republicans to reopen the government. On October 24, he was one of the Democrats who voted in favor of a bill to pay some government employees (his fellow Democrats blocked that, too).
He's consistently called on his fellow Democrats to vote for the CR, reopen the government, and then negotiate a new budget.
Shut our government down and America loses.
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) October 22, 2025
2 MILLION Pennsylvanians depend on SNAP to feed their families.
For me, it’s hungry Americans over party.
Paying our military over party.
Paying Capitol Police and federal workers over party.
I choose country over party. pic.twitter.com/JQbGkzYdw8
"I choose country over party," Fetterman said.
Fresh off the latest "No Kings" rally, Democrats are demanding that President Trump ignore federal law and continue funding SNAP. Several Democrats, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, are suing the administration to force it to circumvent the law to fund the program.
BREAKING: I'm suing the Trump administration to prevent them from suspending SNAP benefits. I will not allow Trump to use hungry children as bargaining chips.
— Attorney General Keith Ellison (@AGEllison) October 28, 2025
USDA has a multi-billion dollar contingency fund intended to keep programs like SNAP running. They must use it. pic.twitter.com/OR7ydSDZdn
The White House has said repeatedly that it cannot do it. It appears the Democrats are hoping the optics of a court ordering the Trump administration to fund SNAP in contradiction to federal law will give them an advantage in this fight.
They have spent the past month trying, and failing, to blame Republicans for the Schumer Shutdown after all. Even CNN admitted yesterday that the Schumer Shutdown hasn't hurt Republicans and they've even made gains in their approval ratings. Democrats, on the other hand, are not — they're only up by three points this time around (compared to 11 in Trump's first term).