The Denver Post‘s Allison Sherry recently highlighted the accomplishments of Colorado’s U.S. Representatives and Senators during the government shutdown. While some boasted legitimate accomplishments, others seemed to freak out about Sherry’s query and list some random thing that happened during the shutdown in which they kind of participated. In the latter category is our esteemed Democratic Senator Mark Udall and Representative Ed Perlmutter.
While his colleagues in the Colorado delegation were introducing pieces of legislation, such as Rep. Scott Tipton’s legislation that would prevent federal water grabs, Udall is proud of his decision to allow the nomination of Stephen Preston, would-be Department of Defense chief counsel, to move forward. Here is what Sherry wrote about the “accomplishment”:
“Sen. Mark Udall lifted his hold on on the nomination of Stephen Preston to be the Department of Defense chief counsel, which led to his confirmation. Udall initially had concerns about Preston after he did not sufficiently acknowledge flaws in the country’s detention and interrogation program. Udall’s office said he decided to support Preston only after clarifications that Preston would take Congressional oversight seriously.”
Really? So, Udall didn’t do anything as much as he stopped doing something.
And, then, there was Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, whose big accomplishment was helping a woman sign up for death benefits, which was nice, but really?
“Rep. Ed Perlmutter tells the story of a woman from his district who had a problem with her Social Security widow benefits. Every year, the woman has to provide the government proof of her Public Employee Retirement Association benefits to get her Social Security money. There was a glitch this year, but because of the shutdown she couldn’t get anyone on the phone to help her. Perlmutter’s office called the Social Security Administration directly and had an “essential” staffer” meet her in the lobby so she could get the glitch resolved.”
We get it, Ed, you’re a man of the people. You meet them in grocery stores, you call the social security office for them, you send interns to meet constituents in lobbies. That was awfully nice of you, but one phone call in 16 days was your big accomplishment, really? And, remind PeakNation™, you didn’t forgo your $174,ooo salary during this time, correct?