Sen. Fetterman supports House’s Defense Appropriations Bill; votes for CR seven times

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has voted to consider H.R.4016, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026. Senator Fetterman released the following statement:

“I voted YES to start considering the House’s defense spending bill because I believe the men and women in our military, who put their lives at risk for our country, should not have to worry about their paycheck coming through," the senator said. “To be clear, we should be considering the Senate’s bill because it’s the better version, and I worked hard to secure key investments for Pennsylvania in it.

“Regardless, this bill would still make sure our service members get paid, and I will continue to vote to end this shutdown and reopen our federal government so all workers can move on from this chaos.”

Since the government shut down, Senator Fetterman has continued to cast his vote to put politics aside and open the government. He has cast his vote seven times for the Continuing Resolution to extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits and has cast his vote nine times for the Republican Continuing Resolution to fund our government. Both Continuing Resolutions have failed to reach the 60-vote threshold.

Sen. Fetterman, who has consistently voted with the Republican-led CR, echoed his counterparts across the aisle and said that any outside issues aside from reopening the government could be dealt with after the lights were turned back on in Washington.

"It was wrong to shut it down in March," he said. "I'm in the same position. It's not going to change. Everything else we're talking about,  open up the government first, and then we can figure out the rest."

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