John Hickenlooper Dubs CR The 'Lesser Of Two Very Serious Evils’ As Government Shutdown Looms

2 minutes ago

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) spoke about the continuing resolution with reporters on Wednesday.

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Transcript

00:00You have the shutdown deadline approaching.

00:07How do you feel about this House bill and do you plan to vote for it?

00:10Well, I hate the House bill.

00:12I think to have such large amounts of the budget uncommitted so the president can do

00:19whatever he wants is exactly what we've been fighting against.

00:22That being said, if you shut down the government, the president is the person who decides what

00:27is essential.

00:28He decides what part of the government stays open.

00:31So you're actually giving him even more power.

00:34So I haven't made up my mind, but I think that the continuing resolution is awful.

00:41Really, the fact that we've gotten to this point is very frustrating and saddens me.

00:47But it does seem the lesser of two very serious evils is to go along with the CR.

00:54Shutting down the government, A, it's always a last resort.

00:59In this case, it's even more than that, because who knows how long it stays shut down.

01:02Who knows how long the president decides that he likes making all the decisions for the

01:07government.

01:08You can imagine him saying, Congress has failed.

01:11Congress can't help you.

01:12It's up to me to save everyone.

01:14And then we can't reopen government without Republicans.

01:17They're the ones who've got to put a bill on the floor.

01:20And if he tells them, don't do that, we happen to know for a pretty good fact that they won't

01:24do it.

01:25There's a level of obedience that we've never seen before between the White House and Congress.

01:30I think we just have to respect that.

01:32If someone reveals himself to you, believe them.

01:35Well, I think they're showing that they're going to do whatever the president says, at

01:38least so far.

01:39I mean, at some point, I really do believe that Republicans and Democrats are going to

01:44stand up and make sure that Congress maintains the power of the purse, the constitutional

01:48obligation and responsibility that we've been given.

01:52We shouldn't give up on that.

01:53Yeah.

01:54And it sounds like if you think that a shutdown would be worse than the CR.

01:58I think that it has certainly the potential to be far worse.

02:01That's the nightmare scenario, which I would, you know, six months ago, would have never

02:07believed would be possible.

02:09Now there's not too many things I can't say, huh, he might do that.

02:14So are you, would it be fair to say you're leaning towards voting for the CR or at least

02:19voting for cloture?

02:20Yeah.

02:21I think I'm, I'm leaning in that direction, but I, you know, I've gone back and forth

02:25on this thing three times because it is, it is two horrible choices.

02:31And it's hard to imagine two worse choices where you, in either case, you, you can envision

02:38terrible things happening.

02:40People losing funding for essential things in Colorado that the people depend on.

02:44We're talking about, you know, medical situations.

02:47We're talking about veterans jobs.

02:48We're talking about education.

02:49Um, I mean, it's just a, it's a, uh, a waterfall of, of horribles.

02:57You politically, how do you think your voters would react if you guys let this go forward

03:02because you feel like you have to, but you don't really get anything in return.

03:06We're not going to get anything in return no matter what, uh, they've, they drove this

03:10dump truck up to the brink and, and they're daring us to tip it over, to push it over

03:17the edge of the, let it fall.

03:20You know, when you get to these kinds of decisions, I think we're all better off if we worry less

03:25about am I going to get reelected?

03:28And really what is the right thing?

03:29What is the best thing for the country given that there's no good decision, no good choice.

03:34Speaking of reelection, are you just, have you decided if you're going to run yet?

03:37Yeah, I've already, I'm already out there, uh, having started to run, although now I'm

03:41having second thoughts watching all my fellow senators, you know, uh, uh, stepping back and

03:47having, you know, for the last two months I've started fundraising.

03:50It's a pain in the neck, right?

03:51Um, I mean, actually it's worse than that, it's a pain in the ass, but it's, uh, I'm

03:56looking forward to the campaign and I'm looking forward to reelection and you're running,

04:01I'm running.

04:02And I think that just when things look the worst, oftentimes, usually through Providence,

04:09good things come.

04:10I mean, life generally is a pendulum and I want to be ready when things start getting

04:15better.

04:16I want to be here and be part of Congress when it works, when it actually, there's bipartisan

04:22compromises where we actually deal with some of the big challenges and we're not just kicking

04:26everything down the field.

04:27Fair enough.

04:28Thanks for your time.

04:29You bet.

John Hickenlooper Dubs CR The 'Lesser Of Two Very Serious Evils’ As Government Shutdown Looms

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