{"id":2582896,"date":"2026-03-23T12:30:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-fetterman-bluntly-tells-democrats-what-their-dhs-shutdown-is-doing-to-americans\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T12:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:34:14","slug":"john-fetterman-bluntly-tells-democrats-what-their-dhs-shutdown-is-doing-to-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-fetterman-bluntly-tells-democrats-what-their-dhs-shutdown-is-doing-to-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"John Fetterman Bluntly Tells Democrats What Their DHS Shutdown Is Doing To Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjohn-fetterman-bluntly-tells-democrats-what-their-dhs-shutdown-is-doing-to-americans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2582896&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman criticized his own party on a public platform, saying Democratic leadership has prioritized political games over teh livelihoods of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-faces-reagan-like-inflection-point-with-federal-workers-during-crisis-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Trump faces Reagan...like inflection point with federal workers during crisis ... Washington Examiner\">federal workers amid<\/a> a partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The Department of Homeland Security said the shutdown has forced many agencies, including the TSA, FEMA, and CBP, to operate under emergency protocols.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Fetterman, appearing on The Record with Greta Van Susteren, claimed he was the only Democrat to oppose shutting down the government and urged reopening DHS, paying workers, and reducing long airport lines.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; He linked security concerns to the shutdown, citing incidents such as a Michigan attack and noting connections to extremist groups, arguing that DHS and cybersecurity operations should not be suspended.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; He acknowledged that reforming ICE is reasonable but argued it should not directly impact reopening and funding for DHS.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The Senate failed to end the shutdown, with a 47-37 vote on the 35th day, well short of the 60 votes needed; TSA workers remained unpaid during a busy travel period.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote to reopen the government, while the rest of the party continued to block full DHS funding until its proposed changes to ICE and CBP are approved.<\/p>\n<p>Note: the article is from the Daily Caller News Foundation and includes typical site disclosures and related content.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman criticized his own party Friday, saying that Democratic leadership puts political games ahead of federal workers&rsquo; livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2026\/02\/22\/1-week-democrats-shutdown-dhs-implements-emergency-measures-conserve-resources-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports<\/a> that the shutdown has forced numerous agencies&mdash;including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)&mdash;to operate under &ldquo;emergency protocols.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Appearing on &ldquo;The Record with Greta Van Susteren,&rdquo; Fetterman said he was the only Democrat to resist shutting down the government, warning that the ongoing closure punishes employees while doing nothing to advance policy goals.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was the only Democrat through this entire thing to refuse to shut our government down. This is wrong. Now you can want to reform ICE. That&rsquo;s reasonable, now, but it has no impact on that directly,&rdquo; Fetterman told Greta Van Susteren, before mentioning long lines at airports nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Now, look what happened in Michigan. You had an individual with a connection with Hezbollah. He came driving into the synagogue in Michigan, looking to kill 150 toddlers there. So with all the kinds of security, not just TSA, all of DHS is shut down at that. So that&rsquo;s also our cybersecurity agency, that&rsquo;s another part of it,&rdquo; Fetterman said.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, a man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/fbi-held-active-shooter-training-michigan-synagogue-weeks-before-attack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">drove<\/a> a truck carrying explosives into a synagogue in Michigan, breaking through its entrance. Israeli officials later reported that the assailant&rsquo;s brother once held a leadership position in the extremist group Hezbollah.<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman criticized Democrats for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-dials-up-heat-on-democrats-amid-shutdown-gridlock\/\" title=\"White House dials up heat on Democrats amid ... gridlock\">prioritizing political goals<\/a> over public safety.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;For me, the Democrats are afraid of their base to just tell them, &lsquo;Hey, we&rsquo;re gonna do the right thing. We&rsquo;re gonna reopen this.&rsquo; I will work for the new Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin. That&rsquo;s why I voted for him. We agree on many, many things about our Homeland Security,&rdquo; Fetterman added.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So I know I&rsquo;ve been taking some heat from voting for him, but again, he&rsquo;s a good guy and he&rsquo;s someone that I can work with. And now why? Let&rsquo;s just reopen DHS, pay everybody, stop all these lines and make our nation more secure.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Senate failed Friday to end the partial government shutdown as Democrats, for the second time in under a year, withheld votes over a policy dispute.<\/p>\n<p>With attendance low, the chamber fell short of the 60 votes needed in a 47-37 tally on the 35th day of the DHS shutdown, leaving TSA workers unpaid during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"402\">Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote to reopen the government. The rest of his party remains united blocking full funding for DHS until their proposed sweeping changes to ICE and CBP are approved.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman criticized his party on Friday, saying Democratic leaders are prioritizing political maneuvering over the livelihoods of federal workers. The Department of Homeland Security reported that the shutdown forced several agencies, including the TSA, FEMA, and CBP, to operate under emergency protocols. On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Fetterman said he was the only Democrat who refused to shut down the government, arguing the closure harms employees without advancing policy goals. He acknowledged that ICE reform is reasonable but noted it would not directly address the shutdown\u2019s immediate effects, and he pointed to security concerns like long airport lines and a recent Michigan attack tied to Hezbollah to illustrate the costs of the shutdown to national security. He urged reopening DHS, paying workers, and improving security, and said he would work with the new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, even as he faced criticism for his vote. In the Senate, the vote to end the partial shutdown failed on day 35, with a 47-37 tally as Democrats continued to block full DHS funding until they secure their proposed changes to ICE and CBP; Fetterman was the lone Democrat voting to reopen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2582897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_7301.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3884,3685,7492,41377,5123],"class_list":["post-2582896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-americans","tag-democrats","tag-dhs","tag-john-fetterman","tag-shutdown"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_7301.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582896"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2582900,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582896\/revisions\/2582900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2582897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}