Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) drew friendly fire from within his state’s congressional delegation, with Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) slamming him for his comments about missing his family’s “entire trip to the beach” during the megabill vote-a-rama.
“If you are here, you are damned lucky and privileged to be here. You should want to be here, and if you don’t want to be here, leave,” Boyle said in an interview with The Bulwark posted on Tuesday.
Boyle said he does not minimize the sacrifices made by lawmakers, but that he sat down with his young daughter this week to explain that “this week will determine whether or not millions and millions of Americans get to keep their health care.”
“She’s only 11, she got that,” he said.
The Senate passed the package Tuesday afternoon after pulling an all-nighter during a historic slew of amendments and votes on the floor. In the day before the Senate passed the bill, which ended in a 51-50 tie-break by Vice President JD Vance, Fetterman said he was “going to vote no.”
“Oh my god, I just want to go home,” he said to reporters Monday, saying it was clear the bill would pass.
Fetterman has increasingly faced criticism from Democrats for loudly breaking from party lines, as President Donald Trump called him “the most sensible” Democratic senator Friday.
“To me, I think this is one of the most important things I will ever do, full stop. There is no place I would rather be than right here, right now, and if I can make a difference and stop this bill from happening, I will do whatever it takes,” Boyle said in The Bulwark interview. “That should be the attitude, frankly, of every Democratic member of the House and Senate.”
