McCormick talks government shutdown, SNAP and health insurance subsidies in visit to Harrisburg

As the federal government shutdown reached its 27th day, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) re-upped his calls for the passage of a continuing resolution (CR) and pointed at Democrats for the ongoing stalemate.

"What was proposed was a clean, continuing resolution," McCormick said Monday to reporters at an event in Harrisburg.

McCormick, along with all of his GOP colleagues in the Senate and a few Democrats, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), have voted 12 times for the GOP-backed spending proposal to keep the government open. That proposal has received a majority vote but not the 60 required to advance it. Republicans make up 53 Senate seats, so they would need Democratic support for the measure to pass.

Republicans hold a majority in the Senate and U.S. House.

The shutdown, McCormick said, is "really starting to hurt Pennsylvanians," and noted the number of federal workers who live in the state, as well as the 2 million who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

"I'm really concerned because SNAP benefits are mostly for folks that are living paycheck to paycheck and really need that support," McCormick said.

He said he talked with Fetterman late last week about the need to help SNAP recipients.

On Monday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, called on Congress to immediately pass a clean CR and reopen the government.

A few weeks prior, AFGE union leaders joined Democratic elected officials in Philadelphia calling on Republicans to negotiate a deal to end the government shutdown.

Most Democrats have remained adamant that an extension of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which are set to expire at the end of the year, is needed in a spending plan to reopen the government.

McCormick said the proposal that has passed the Senate a dozen times keeps the government funded and adds time to negotiate "whatever extensions should or shouldn't be" for the ACA, also known as Obamacare.

He noted that he, President Donald Trump, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) are open to having a conversation about extending those subsidies, but added that it couldn't happen until the government re-opens.

However, McCormick didn't say whether he supported extending the premium tax credits from the ACA or not.

"What we're talking about are the additional subsidies that were put in place during COVID," McCormick said. "But I am worried about the healthcare costs for people that are living paycheck to paycheck. So, I'm gonna have to see what the options are."

Fetterman and McCormick support CR, but differ on filibuster

While Fetterman and McCormick have been side-by-side in their support of the GOP-backed CR to fund the government, they are not aligned on if the filibuster should be used to reopen the government.

Fetterman, who advocated for elimination of the filibuster during his 2022 bid for U.S. Senate, told reporters last week that he would support Republicans bypassing the 60 votes needed and approve the plan with a simple majority.

McCormick, however, told reporters that he does not back a proposal for Republicans to abandon the filibuster to pass a spending plan to fund the government.

"And the reason I wouldn't is because I wouldn't support that in the case of the Democrats being a majority or the Republicans being in the majority," McCormick said. "I think once you set the precedent, then you don't have to check on needing to build some level of bipartisan consensus."

"I think you're going to say that you have to live with the consistency on both sides of it," he added. "In other words, you say whatever your view is on the filibuster, it should be your view regardless of whether you're in the majority or not."

McCormick also claimed that "if the roles were reversed" and there was a Democrat in the White House with majorities in both chambers, he would still vote to keep the government open.

McCormick sees path to new trade agreement with Canada, while Trump adds new tariffs

On Saturday, Trump announced that he was increasing tariffs on Canada by an additional 10%. The move was announced following an ad by the province of Ontario that used words from former President Ronald Reagan sharply criticizing tariffs.

McCormick told the Capital-Star on Monday that he has not seen the ad, but added that he supports a trade agenda that is "trying to create fairness for the American worker and reciprocity."

"And that's what the president is trying to do," McCormick said.

He referenced Trump's trip to Asia and the framework of multiple trade deals with Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia as proof that he has faith in the president over the matter.

"I think there's a path here to a trade agreement with Canada that's going to be much more fair to the American worker, but it's probably going to take a couple iterations, and I'm not going to tell the president how to negotiate," he added. "I think he's making some pretty good progress across these deals."

Some have expressed concern that Trump's tariff policies have created uncertainty in the market.

McCormick added that he believes that the trade deals that have been made under Trump are a "net good" for Pennsylvania, although he said they aren't perfect for everybody.

"The sooner we can get these deals done, the better," McCormick said.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.