Hypocrite, thy name is Michael Bennet.
Despite putting on a good show over the past month that he really and truly wanted Congress to keep funding the VA hospital construction in Aurora, it turns out Senate Democrats have a plan up their collective sleeves to block funding for the VA as well as military paychecks “until they get what they want,” the Washington Post reports.
Democrats aren’t even being coy about it, and neither is the Post, which declared: “Get ready for filibuster summer.”
“To maintain their leverage, Democrats have decided to block all spending bills starting with the defense appropriations measure headed to the floor next week.
Schumer, joined by Reid and Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin, (D-Ill.), set out in recent days to rebound from weeks of party division over White House-backed trade legislation to sell the image of Democrats as a single, unbreakable force. He said his colleagues are resolute and will not buckle when Republicans soon test their unity by bringing up for votes popular defense and veterans spending bills.”
And what do Democrats want, exactly? To position Sen. Chuck Schumer as the next Senate leader bust the spending caps on domestic spending.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee called Bennet out on this putrid plan, and his hypocrisy in backing a government shutdown strategy.
“It’s time for Senator Michael Bennet to break from partisan Senate Democratic leaders for once and take a stand against shutting down the government,” said NRSC spokesman Matt Connelly. “In the past, Senator Bennet has criticized the very strategy he is now employing and unless he denounces these tactics Coloradans will once again see his hypocrisy shine on a major issue of the day. It’s irresponsible and dangerous for Senator Bennet to hold troop pay hostage for almost 100,000 Colorado military personnel in an attempt to increase IRS spending.”
Schumer assured the Post that he has EVERY Democrat on board for his power play. We shall see if Bennet has the moxie to stand up to the senator from New York.