John Fetterman said he is “very open” to Trump’s $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense budget, calling the U.S. “the arsenal of the free world.”
On Iran, the Pennsylvania Democrat said Washington should keep pressing Tehran to surrender its nuclear material and again broke with most of his party by opposing a Senate war-powers resolution limiting U.S. involvement.
China should also “feel that pain,” Fetterman said, arguing Beijing should pressure Iran rather than tolerate a path to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
Erika Kirk’s ordeal after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting also drew his sympathy, with Fetterman calling online attacks on Charlie Kirk’s widow “bonkers” after viral footage showed her leaving in tears.
The comments reinforce Fetterman’s unusual position inside the Democratic caucus: willing to side with Republicans on national security and to publicly defend a prominent conservative family after back-to-back acts of political violence.
Can the US afford a record defense budget with its national debt soaring past $39 trillion?
With conflicting US intelligence, is Iran actually on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon?