'I certainly disagree': Defecting Dem called out by own party on CNN

A defecting Democrat was called out by his own party on Wednesday, with a leading Democrat telling CNN, "I certainly disagree."

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the House Minority Whip, responded to anchor Brianna Keilar's questions about the government shutdown and pushed back on Sen. John Fetterman's (D-PA) remarks.

"I don't care if it's Republicans doing that or my own party doing those things. I think that's the truth that our government must be open and we can negotiate all of these very important kinds of priorities," Fetterman told CNN on earlier in the day.

Keilar asked Clark if she agreed with Fetterman.

"Fetterman said he's fighting for both the 2 million Pennsylvanians who are on [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], and also the 420,000 Pennsylvanians who are receiving the [Affordable Care Act] subsidies that you all are demanding an extension to. And he says it's fundamentally wrong to shut the government down, which is something Democrats have argued in the past when Republicans are doing it. At this point in time, because of this budget, we hear you, we hear Democrats saying it's different. It's not fundamentally wrong. Explain that. I mean, why? And why do you think that John Fetterman has it wrong here?"

Clark said there was a difference between this shutdown with the current Trump administration compared to others she has served under, or any in recent history.

"We have a president who, from the moment he took office, has been using the budget, which it is federal law, and under the Constitution, that we here in Congress set the budget as his private slush fund," Clark said. "He takes it from programs he doesn't like, and he gives it to programs he does like. We've watched this very recently in the Department of Education, where he has decimated special education funding in this country, something that many, many parents and schools deserve and need in order to provide for all of our students. He has done this over and over again. And so at each point in this budget process, we have said, 'You have to abide by the law. You have to respect that we are voted and elected to represent people,' and that when Congress sets budgets, setting the levels for SNAP, for our veterans benefits, for health care in this country, that is something that you should abide by. Not only does he not do that, he uses his bully pulpit to take more from the senator."

She described how the current stalemate is not like the past.

"I believe that we are in a situation here where Senator Fetterman sees no difference in how this administration is approaching this budget, and acting lawfully and constitutionally, and putting the needs of the American people first and any other administration. I certainly disagree with him about that, because what we're seeing here is a Speaker [Mike] Johnson in the House, when we said we cannot — we you know, we have opposed this budget at every single point. But let's not shut down government. Let's come together and talk about this,'" Clark said.

Johnson hasn't had the same response, she added.

"His response he has shut down the House. He has shut down the House and said, 'I simply don't care. I don't care what happens to federal workers. I don't care what happens to these snap programs. I don't care what happens to people's health care,'" she added.

"And so the idea that somehow when they control the House, the Senate, and the White House, that this is on Democrats is really a preposterous one to me. And they have you have seen them try to cover for their inexcusable strategy of taking healthcare funding, of taking food programs away from our kids and our seniors in order to fund tax cuts. That is the strategy. That is what they are doing," Clark said.

"And the fact that they are inflicting even more pain and injecting further cruelty by threatening to not repay people who federal workers who are working without pay, it just further shows the callousness on which they view working people at the same time, we have a president who, what is he talking about? He's talking about building a ballroom. Let that sink in for working people in this country," she said.

Fetterman is expected to have a potentially tough primary for breaking with his own party on key issues and frequently defending President Donald Trump.