U.S. Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA) visited Aurelius, a nonprofit organization that operates the Brain Health and Human Performance Clinic at Harrisburg University in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 27, 2025. (John Cole/Capital-Star)
As the federal government shutdown reached its 27th day, U.S. Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA) renewed his calls for a Continuing Resolution (CR) and pointed out to Democrats the ongoing impasse.
“A clean, lasting solution has been proposed,” McCormick told reporters Monday at an event in Harrisburg.
McCormick, along with all of his GOP colleagues in the Senate and several Democrats, including Sen. John Fetterman (R-Pa.), voted 12 times for GOP-backed spending proposals to keep the government open. This proposal received a majority vote, but not the 60 votes required to pass. Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate, so they would need Democratic support for the bill to pass.
Republicans have a majority in the US Senate and House of Representatives.
McCormick said the shutdown is “really starting to hurt Pennsylvanians” and noted the number of federal workers living in the state as well as the 2 million receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
A looming federal food aid shutdown intensifies the fight to close the market
“I’m really concerned because SNAP benefits are primarily intended for people who are living paycheck to paycheck and really need this support,” McCormick said.
He said he spoke with Fetterman behind schedule last week about the need to lend a hand SNAP beneficiaries.
On Monday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, urged Congress to immediately adopt a spotless CR and reopen the government.
A few weeks earlier, AFGE union leaders joined Democratic elected officials in Philadelphia calling on Republicans to negotiate an agreement to end the government shutdown.
Most Democrats remain adamant that an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that expire at the end of the year is necessary in a spending plan to reopen the government.
McCormick said the proposal, which has passed the Senate a dozen times, provides funding for the government and gives time to negotiate “whatever extensions should or shouldn’t have” under the ACA, also known as Obamacare.
He noted that he, President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) are open to talking about extending those grants, but added that it can’t happen before the government reopens.
However, McCormick did not say whether he supports extending tax breaks on ACA premiums or not.
“We’re talking about additional subsidies put in place during the pandemic,” McCormick said. “But I’m concerned about health care costs for people who live paycheck to paycheck. So I need to see what the options are.”
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Fetterman and McCormick support CR but differ on the filibuster
While Fetterman and McCormick have side-by-side supported the GOP-backed CR in funding the government, they disagree on whether the filibuster should be used to reopen the government.
Fetterman, who advocated for eliminating the filibuster during his 2022 U.S. Senate run, said reporters last week that he would do it support Republicans bypassing the required 60 votes and approves the plan by a plain majority of votes.
McCormick, however, told reporters that he did not support Republicans’ proposal to abandon the filibuster and pass a spending plan to finance the government.
“And the reason I won’t do it is because I wouldn’t support it if Democrats were the majority and Republicans were the majority,” McCormick said. “I think once a precedent is set, there’s no need to look at whether it’s necessary to build some level of bipartisan consensus.”
“I think you would say you have to live with consistency on both sides,” he added. “In other words, whatever your view of the filibuster is, it should be your view whether you are in the majority or not.”
McCormick also said that “if the roles were reversed” and there was a Democrat in the White House with a majority in both houses, he would still vote to keep the government open.
McCormick sees path to fresh trade deal with Canada while Trump adds fresh tariffs
on Saturday, Trump announced he was raising tariffs for Canada by an additional 10%. The move was announced after an ad by the province of Ontario used words from former President Ronald Reagan harshly criticizing the tariffs.
On Monday, McCormick told the Capital-Star that he had not seen the ad but added that he supported a trade program that “attempts to provide fairness and reciprocity to the American worker.”
“And that’s what the president is trying to do,” McCormick said.
He cited Trump’s trip to Asia and the framework of numerous trade agreements with Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia as evidence that he has confidence in the president on this matter.
“I think there is a path to a trade deal with Canada that is much fairer for the American worker, but it will probably take a few iterations and I’m not going to tell the president how to negotiate,” he added. “I think he’s making pretty good progress on these deals.”
Some have expressed concerns that Trump’s tariff policies have created market uncertainty.
McCormick added that he believes Trump-era trade deals are a “net good” for Pennsylvania, although he said they are not ideal for everyone.
“The sooner we can complete these transactions, the better,” McCormick said.
