While most Senate Democrats are looking for pieces to chip away from the GOP megabill in the ongoing vote-a-rama, Sen. John Fetterman just wants the process over with already.
“Oh my God, I just want to go home,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told reporters on Monday. “I’ve already missed our entire trip to the beach… I’m going to vote no. There’s no drama.”
GOP leaders expect rapid-fire amendments to roll in until at least late Monday evening. With a swath of unresolved issues — from potential cuts to the Medicaid provider tax to the phasing out of clean-energy credits — the process could easily extend into the night.
But Fetterman doesn’t think there will be surprises out of tonight’s votes.
“The only interesting votes are going to be on the margin, whether that’s [Susan] Collins or [Ron] Johnson and those,” he said. “All the Democrats, we all know how that’s going to go. I don’t think it’s really helpful to put people here till some ungodly hour.”
Fetterman later posted on X that he’s “here to vote on these amendments and keep the ball rolling” and reiterated his stance against cutting Medicaid and SNAP.
Fetterman has increasingly been a thorn in Democrats’ side as they ramp up opposition to the Trump administration and its policies. Fetterman has been adamant, for example, about not supporting a war powers resolution introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would limit the president’s ability to take military action on Iran without congressional approval. Trump on Friday called Fetterman “the most sensible” Democratic senator and suggested he should support the megabill.
Fetterman’s impatience with the vote-a-rama is just his latest break with his own party.
“This bill is the biggest transfer of wealth from the working class to the 1% and Fetterman’s message to voters is that he just wants to go home,” Joe Calvello, Fetterman’s former communications director postedon X.