Last night, as legislators voted on the fiscal cliff deal, a curious thing happened. Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall voted opposite each other. Bennet was one of just eight senators who voted “no” to the deal, while Udall voted yes. In his statement following the vote, Bennet said:
“Coloradans have told me they want a plan that materially reduces the deficit. This proposal does not meet that standard and does not put in place a real process to reduce the debt down the road. While I do support many of the items in this proposal — for example, extending unemployment insurance, the wind production tax credit and tax cuts for most Americans — I believe they should have come in the context of a comprehensive deficit reduction package.”
Bennet and Udall have the same constituents, so it’s puzzling that Udall would vote no. It’s also worth noting that Democratic U.S. Reps Degette (Dean of the Delegation), Polis, and Perlmutter also voted for the deal while Republican Reps. Coffman, Lamborn, Tipton, and Gardner all voted against the deal.
With Bennet citing Coloradans preferences for his vote, one has to wonder who inspired Udall’s vote. Since Udall hasn’t had a townhall since August 2012, according to his web site (see below), it’s understandable that he wouldn’t have a clue about the preferences of Coloradans. But, the truth is that it’s Senator Udall’s job to know what Coloradans sent him to Washington, D.C. to accomplish. Coloradans didn’t send him to Washington, D.C. to vote with everyone else. We sent him to D.C. to vote in our best interests. It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t understand that concept and didn’t bother to ask Coloradans how they would like him to vote.