At his confirmation hearing in January, Robert F. Kennedy was thoroughly questioned by the senator about the many years he spent denouncing vaccines and espousing conspiracies.
MB: “So I'm asking you, yes or no, Mr. Kennedy, did you say that COVID 19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets black and white people, but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people?”
RFK: “I didn't say it was deliberately targeted. I just, I just quoted an NIH funded, an NIH published study.”
MB: “Did you say that it targets black and white people but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese [people]?
RFK: “I quoted a study, your honor, I quoted an NIH study that showed that certain races-”
MB: “I'll take that as a yes. I have to move on.”
While he did vote against the new secretary of health and human services, Bennett won't take an all or nothing approach.
Senator Michael Bennett hosted a press call last week in which he detailed his strategy of picking Democrats battles. While he disavows Kennedy's confirmation, he says that he has to act in a way that benefits Americans in the long term.
“I just voted today for the agriculture secretary. I believe it's very important for Colorado's farmers and ranchers, for me to have a constructive relationship with the ag secretary, just because I think it's very important for me to have a constructive relationship with the veterans secretary for Colorado's veterans.”
The cautious approach doesn't mean Democrats don't plan to put up any resistance. According to Bennett, it's the best way to highlight the federal government's failings.
“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 in their interest and where we can battle back.”
The cautious approach doesn't mean Democrats don't plan to put up any resistance. According to Bennett, it's the best way to highlight the federal government's failings.
Unlike a few of his colleagues, Bennett says that the blanket no is guaranteed to be a losing strategy and that his party has bigger problems than Trump and his administration.
“I do think that the Democratic Party is in a profoundly problematic position that’s not Donald Trump's creating; and we have to figure out how to get to a place where we are providing a vision for the country that is compelling to them so that we can overcome Trumpism in the long term.”
Senators Hickenlooper and Bennett also voted to approve fossil fuel CEO Chris Wright from Colorado as Secretary of Energy, but voted against Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence. Both were ultimately appointed by the full Senate.