Sen. Bennet: Congress Is As 'Dysfunctional' As It's Ever Been
DENVER (CBS4)- Sen. Michael Bennet says Congress is as "dysfunctional" as it's ever been.
The senior senator from Colorado, a Democrat, says the bombshells coming out of the White House are drowning out everything that's happening on Capitol Hill.
Bennet told CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd that every week he reads letters from concerned Coloradans. He receives thousands of them every week. He talked about his biggest concerns and what happens next.
"Before this election, Shaun, as you know, things were pretty dysfunctional. And now everything has virtually screeched to a halt," said Bennet.
He said the daily controversies coming out of the White House are consuming Congress, especially Republicans who set the agenda.
"They have absolutely no idea what Donald Trump is going to say from day to day. They don't know what the President is going to say or what his priorities are going to be. Or even what he's going to say about them," said Bennet.
Bennet is concerned about the one bill House Republicans have acted upon, health care reform. The bill that passed the House cuts one quarter of Medicaid funding, and the budget proposal Pres. Trump will submit on Tuesday reportedly calls for more work requirements for recipients.
"You look at who is on Medicaid in our state, about 50 percent of the people are kids. Are we going to assign kids work requirement or are we going to let them go to school?" asked Bennet.
Bennet said children are also impacted by new immigration policies that could result in the deportation of their parents. Bennet said he met with the Secretary of Homeland Security about the issue.
"The secretary said 'We're only getting rid of the most serious felons.' And then I said, 'Well, are you counting in that people who have overstayed their Visas?' He said, 'Yeah, we're counting that.' Well, 40 percent of the people in Colorado, or in the country who are undocumented, have overstayed their Visas," said Bennet.
Bennet said he's pushing back on immigration and health care... and trying to keep perspective. He said the country has survived far more than a Pres. Trump.
"This Republic has been around for somewhere between 230 to 240 years. And we are going, as long as we follow the rule of law and as long as we are committed to the principles that the framers designed in the Constitution... we are going to be fine," said Bennet.
Bennet also said he supports the appointment of a special counsel to investigate possible ties between the Trump administration and Russia and that we should let the investigation take its course.
