Democratic Sen. John Fetterman walked onto the stage through a doorway cast in a bright blue light. Republican Sen. Dave McCormick followed from the right-hand side, which was glowing bright red.

But from there on, it was mostly an agreeable conversation between Pennsylvania’s senators under white lights at Boston’s Edward M. Kennedy Institute in the fifth installment of “The Senate Project,” a debate series aimed at promoting bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate.

Fetterman, in his signature black hoodie and shorts, sat beside McCormick in a navy suit. The 30-minute conversation Monday morning was moderated by Fox News’ Shannon Bream and livestreamed on Fox Nation.

The friendly tone for the conversation was expected. The duo have publicly embraced one another in the last four months, even after Fetterman campaigned with McCormick’s opponent, former Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat who held the seat for three terms before his ouster in November.

Fetterman and McCormick did an interview with the Washington Post at Fetterman’s home in Braddock earlier this year, and McCormick was the most vocal defender of Fetterman among lawmakers of both parties after former staffers criticized his commitment to his Senate duties.

Save for an exchange about the Republican-led budget bill — which includes cuts to Medicaid and food assistance that the Senate will debate this week — Pennsylvania’s two senators largely agreed on the issues raised, including on several foreign affairs topics and a recent deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steel company.

Fetterman defends himself against criticism and thanks McCormick for support

When a flood of news stories scrutinized Fetterman’s behavior and job performance last month, McCormick reached out to ask his Senate counterpart if it was OK to defend him.

“He actually asked me, ‘Is it OK to defend you? I don’t want it to create more political problems,’” Fetterman told Bream.

“I thought it might hurt him,” McCormick said.

But Fetterman welcomed the support and he called the reports — including an Inquirer editorial cited by the moderator — “smears” against him.

“The more-left media have these kinds of an attack. It’s just not accurate,” Fetterman said, adding: “I’m here, I’m doing my job, I’m defending on all those things, all those important votes.”

Fetterman defended his voting attendance record — the third-worst in the Senate as of a month ago — noting most of the votes he missed were on Mondays, travel days for senators when they typically take procedural votes.

“I have three young kids. Those are throw-away votes. ... If you want to attack me for that, go ahead,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman also noted that Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has been touring the country for rallies against President Donald Trump’s agenda, missed more votes than he has this year but avoided scrutiny.

Fetterman, for his part, has ramped up his travel around the state, visiting several parts of Western Pennsylvania during the Senate’s recess last week.

Alignment on Israel

Both Fetterman and McCormick talked about the urgent need to fight antisemitism, following an attack in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday that injured eight people. Police say a man who yelled “Free Palestine!” launched Molotov cocktails into a gathering of people demonstrating to raise visibility for Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.

The attack in Boulder, which the FBI has called an act of terrorism, happened at the beginning of the Jewish holiday Shavuot and barely a week after a man was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.

“This is something we have to stand up against with complete moral clarity,” McCormick said, referencing college campuses that he thinks have not done enough to curb antisemitic speech.

“And it’s something that you can’t — you can’t have it both ways. You have to stand up with — with complete strength,” McCormick said.

Fetterman called the incidents of violent antisemitism “astonishing.”

“And for me as my friend pointed out, rampant across all the universities ... we really need to call it what it is and now and for me, politically, being very, very firmly side on Israel, that kind of put parts of my party at odds for that.”

Both Fetterman and McCormick have been ardent supporters of Israel in the war in Gaza and have visited Israel several times since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

“I have people following me and screaming ‘Free Palestine,’ and ‘Genocide John,’ and that’s been going on for 18 months,” Fetterman said. “That’s a small, small thing. I can’t imagine how members of the Jewish community must feel constantly under assault.”

Both senators also support legislation putting sanctions on Russia to pressure the country to engage in peace negotiations with Ukraine in the ongoing war.

Asked when the president might get fed up with Vladimir Putin, McCormick defended Trump and placed the blame on former President Joe Biden.

“To be partisan for a minute, I don’t think we would have been in this situation had we not had the Biden administration and the mixed signaling, the withdrawal of Afghanistan ... all of these things, I think, gave a green light to Putin to go into Ukraine," McCormick said.

It was one of several times McCormick took a shot at Biden or worked praise for Trump into his remarks.

Fetterman, who had defended Biden while he was still the party’s candidate, didn’t push back on any of McCormick’s criticism. The former president has become a complicated figure for his party amid media scrutiny about his own health in recent months and his initial decision to run for reelection.

A vote for and against the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

The lone topic that showcased disagreement between Fetterman and McCormick was the budget reconciliation legislation, which is up for debate in the Senate this week. McCormick said he supported the bill because of its extension of Trump’s tax plan, border security enhancements, dialed-up national defense spending, and government spending reductions.

Fetterman said he was a “no” vote because of cuts to Medicaid, though he said he does support a stronger border and bringing down the debt.

“I don’t think I’d ever be in a position to support cutting Medicaid, and another thing I’m troubled by is cuts to SNAP,” said Fetterman who sits on the Agriculture Committee and whose wife co-founded the Free Store in Braddock, which provides food and clothing to people in need.

McCormick said he is not advocating “that we take Medicaid away from people for whom the program was designed,” but rather reduce its growth by identifying fraud.

Several nonpartisan studies of the planned reductions and addition of work requirements show the cuts would result in 8.6 million people losing their healthcare coverage.

Fetterman didn’t push back on McCormick on Medicaid, though he agreed there is room to cut fraud “efficiently.” He said as his party goes into what will be another heated vote, he plans to stay out of personal attacks.

“I refuse to engage in that kind of a rhetoric. That’s not going to make this conversation anymore — any better,” Fetterman said. “... We will vote differently on the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill.’ But that doesn’t make him terrible if he votes for yes. And it doesn’t make me, you know, something terrible, either, if I vote no on those things. ... And it’s like, that’s the way democracy works.”

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