[ad_1]
Pennsylvania’s Democratic U.S. senators split their votes on the debt ceiling bill Thursday night, with Sen. Bob Casey voting for it and Sen. John Fetterman opposing it.
“Last night, I voted for legislation to prevent the nation from defaulting on its debt and to stop extreme MAGA Republicans from gutting Medicaid, food assistance and veterans’ benefits,” Casey said Friday in a statement to PennLive.
“This bipartisan bill protects Pennsylvanians’ jobs and hard-earned savings, and the full faith and credit of the United States,” Casey said. “American families pay their bills and so should their government.”
The bill to raise the debt ceiling passed the Senate 63-36, meeting the 60-vote threshold by a few votes. It had passed the House 314-117 on Wednesday.
In a statement released late Thursday, Fetterman, the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee on nutrition, explained his vote by saying he did not want to give Republicans an opening to making additional cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, better known as food stamps.
“Speaker (Kevin) McCarthy gloated at Democrats that Republicans will push for additional work requirements beyond what is in this bill, saying, ‘Let’s get the rest of the work requirements. Let’s cut more…’” Fetterman said.
“I did not agree to these SNAP restrictions, and I won’t give Republicans an opening to try and take food from more food insecure Americans in Farm Bill negotiations later this year,” he said. “That is why I voted ‘no’ tonight.”
Fetterman added that he would have voted for the bill if it was needed to keep the bill from failing.
“As I communicated to leadership and the White House, I would have voted to avoid default if it would have made the difference. All in all, this was a tough vote and an ugly situation manufactured by extortionists,” Fetterman said. “While we avoided a catastrophe this time around, we should never put the country in this situation again. The 14th Amendment is right there.”
The 14th Amendment says that “the validity of the public debt, authorized by law … shall not be questioned,” which critics have said overrides any debt ceiling cap and debates over raising it.
As for the state’s House delegation, only two of its 17 members voted against the debt ceiling bill on Wednesday, Rep. Scott Perry, a York County Republican, and Rep. Summer Lee, an Allegheny County Democrat.
Perry’s vote was expected as he and other members of the conservative Freedom Caucus blasted the deal as a giveaway to President Joe Biden.
Lee said her vote was to “oppose the dangerous precedent the Republicans set through their willingness to risk the livelihoods of millions and the full faith and credit of the United States of America in order to force through dangerous policies and reward their billionaire donors.”
Republicans, Lee said, “have placed their budget priorities over the poorest and most vulnerable. If we do not take a stand now, they will continue to do this with every chance they get.”
[ad_2]
Source_link
