U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett speaks during the Colorado Democratic Party’s watch party at Number 38 in Denver on Nov. 5, 2024. (Andrew Fraieli for Colorado Newsline)
Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado defended his latest votes in favor of some of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, insisting that a “blanket approach” in opposing nominees isn’t the right strategy for Democrats to adopt.
Left-leaning activist groups have urged Democrats to escalate their tactics in response to the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to expand executive powers in its early weeks in office. Those efforts — which include attempted shutdowns of congressionally established agencies and a freeze on certain federal funds that has persisted in defiance of court orders — run contrary to long-settled separation-of-powers principles in the U.S. Constitution. Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse of Lafayette has characterized the funding freeze as “lawless.”
In a call with reporters Thursday, Bennet said the nation had entered “uncharted territory” with the ongoing suspension of more than $570 million in congressionally authorized funding for Colorado, and that such actions threatened to undermine constitutional checks and balances.
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But Bennet, who earlier Thursday joined 18 Democrats in voting to confirm Republican attorney Brooke Rollins as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, defended that vote and others, citing the need to have “constructive relationships” with Cabinet members who will set policy affecting Colorado farmers, veterans and more.
“I have some doubt in my mind whether a blanket approach, that’s also here to be guaranteed to be a losing approach, is the smart thing to do strategically over the long term,” Bennet said.
With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Democrats don’t have the votes to block any of Trump’s nominees, and despite a handful of GOP “no” votes in recent days, every one of Trump’s picks is on track to be confirmed. While Bennet and fellow Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper have opposed several of the most controversial nominees, they rank among the Democratic senators who have taken the most open-minded approach to the new administration’s Cabinet; as of Thursday, Bennet has supported six of Trump’s 15 picks, while Hickenlooper has supported seven.
Several Senate Democrats have changed gears over the last two weeks as public alarm about Trump’s executive actions has mounted. They include Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, who explained in a Feb. 4 statement that he had voted against Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins’ confirmation despite believing Collins was “qualified” and could “lead the agency well.”
“I’m still a no on every Trump Cabinet nominee until Trump walks back his disastrous executive orders,” Coons said.
Colorado activists call on Bennet, Hickenlooper to ‘say no to everything’
But Bennet, a Senate institutionalist who has long lamented procedural escalations like the end in 2013 of the judicial filibuster, characterized such thinking as “chasing every single social media thread and every single cable media host every single day,” and said it was the wrong path for Democrats to take as they look to win back national majorities.
“That does not mean — I want to be very clear about this — that I’m ever putting up the white flag or surrendering,” he added. “It means that I think it’s very important for us to select our battles in ways that make clear to the American people where Donald Trump is going horribly wrong, and where we can battle back.”
Democratic constituents have inundated congressional offices with phone calls over the last two weeks, and two groups of about 50 demonstrators each visited Bennet’s and Hickenlooper’s Denver offices on Feb. 4. Organized by groups including Indivisible and MoveOn, the demonstrations called on Democrats to maintain blanket opposition to Trump’s nominees, as well as use a variety of procedural tactics like denying a quorum, blocking unanimous consent and using the maximum time allotted for debate — an approach modeled on tactics used by Republican minorities in previous sessions of Congress.
Trump’s funding freeze was put on hold by multiple court rulings shortly after it was issued late last month. But in a Feb. 7 letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Bennet, Hickenlooper and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis reported widespread issues with accessing funds for public and private entities across the state, “despite both the court order and the promises from the agencies” that the funding would be restored.
Billions of dollars in federal assistance authorized by two landmark laws enacted under former President Joe Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, top the list of funds that remain frozen. Some of those funding programs are administered by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former Denver oil and gas executive whom Bennet and Hickenlooper both voted to confirm last week.
Bennet said he was still unsure as of Thursday whether the continued freeze was “inadvertent” or “on purpose.” But he said he and his Democratic colleagues have discussed the prospect that the Trump administration could defy court rulings that its actions are unlawful or unconstitutional.
“We’re all cognizant of that possibility,” Bennet said. “We are going to have to see what happens.”
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