Blumenthal Gets To Know DC, And Vice Versa

By John Voket

This is the second part of a The Bee’s interview Senator Richard Blumenthal conducted January 9.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, who emphasized constituent responsiveness during his tenure as Connecticut’s attorney general, still values the information he gets during small gatherings and one-on-one meetings with Connecticut citizens.

“There’s an old joke that if there’s a garage door opening, Blumenthal will be there,” the senator said with a smile. “And I’m not going to change no matter what my office.”

Besides discussing concerns about Chinese currency manipulation and electronic parts counterfeiting, as well as several initiatives to assist and support returning veterans, legislation he backed to improve educational opportunities, and a bill to fund research on antibiotics to fight drug-resistant viruses, the senator talked about the dynamics of bringing his personal style of advocacy to Washington.

In some respects, he said, it appears that his passion about particular issues is paying off. The senator illustrated the bipartisan fashion in which he sought legislation supporting the research, development, and fast-tracking approvals of new antibiotics.

“I’m especially proud of the act I introduced that provides these incentives, not only because it addresses a real need, but also we did it on a bipartisan basis. I reached across the aisle to Republican Senators, principally Bob Corker from Tennessee who brought along others like Lamar Alexander who is in the Republican leadership,” Sen Blumenthal said.

“That’s really what I’ve tried to do in the United States Senate on that issue, on veterans issues, on many, many issues where I think we have so much common ground. Where we have more in common than in conflict — and we need to reach across the aisle on causes where there shouldn’t be a Republican or Democratic solution, ” Sen Blumenthal said.

Sen Blumenthal, on the other hand, also felt frustrations rooted in his own legacy of consumer advocacy, because of the delays imposed by Republican lawmakers on the recent appointment of Richard Cordray to head up the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“I am a consumer advocate, and have invested decades of my life trying to protect consumers, and to fight for them. I’m proud that we fought and won for consumers repeatedly while I was attorney general. And now I think there’s a great opportunity for the country to prevent the kinds of abuses that led to the cataclysmic economic collapse that put so many people out of work,” Sen Blumenthal said. “Across the board, financial institutions need greater oversight.”

The senator said, however, that while the bureau was functioning bureaucratically without a leader, the CFPB cannot ratify regulations without a director. And while he is “not a fan of recess appointments,” which President Obama employed to appoint the new director, Mr Blumenthal said the nomination of Mr Cordray was “blocked unfairly and unjustifiably.”

Supporting Education Funding

Sen Blumenthal also spoke about how the food chain effect of educational funding, from the federal government to the states and down to the local level in Newtown, has still left local property taxpayers carrying the major bulk of the cost for mandated programs.

“Most recently as a member of the Health, Education and Labor Committee I voted to reestablish the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, but without the flaws of No Child Left Behind. Remember, I sued the federal government because the No Child Left Behind [NCLB] law was failing to provide adequate funding,” Mr Blumenthal said. “The federal government promised it would fully fund all the mandates; it failed to do so, it broke the law so I sued on behalf of the state as attorney general.”

Sen Blumenthal said NCLB has been “defectively implemented in many ways,” and he is supporting adequate funding for school across Newtown and the state, so unfunded mandates can be avoided wherever possible.

The freshman senator also looked at the immense challenges he faced in his first year trying to get anything accomplished.

“The partisan divisions, the acrimony, the rancor, and, unfortunately, the gridlock and stalemate that have characterized Washington over the past few years is simply unacceptable to the American people,” Sen Blumenthal said. “I find people in Connecticut are rightly frustrated and angry, and I am appalled and astonished by the near paralysis I’ve seen.”

But Sen Blumenthal remains optimistic based on the individual relationships he has already forged with colleagues.

“I have been very gratified to find like minds on issues where there shouldn’t be a partisan divide.”

The senator believes he is not becoming enveloped within the “echo chamber” as he describes Washington, because he has chosen to return to Connecticut every weekend where he continues to maintain a fast-paced schedule of meetings and visits.

He said the echo chamber effect does nothing except to foster self-validation, and the result is “Washington often fails to listen.”

“Most satisfying to me is the chance to work for individuals; veterans who have been denied assistance; people who have trouble with health insurers, who have been denied coverage for medicine or surgery that they need; people who have been given the runaround by mortgage servicers. I’ve fought for them and together we have won,” Sen Blumenthal said.

Gridlock Frustrations

While he is impressed by the capacity of an individual senator to positively affect the lives of constituents, Sen Blumenthal is not impressed by those of his colleagues who take advantage of Senate rules to block or defeat initiatives.

Speaking on the controversy involving Democratic Senator Robert Menendez’s blocking of a New Jersey Federal Appeals Court nominee [a position Sen Menendez reversed January 14, now supporting the New Jersey judge], Sen Blumenthal said, “There’s a role to play for someone fighting against legislation that may be unfair or unwise.” He added, however, that “a rule that gives a single member of the Senate the prerogative to stand in the way of a majority vote is wrong. Also the requirement that there have to be 60 votes to approve a measure…is also wrong. Maybe not morally wrong, but wrong in terms of common sense and democracy,” Sen Blumenthal said. “There’s no other body that has a 60- vote threshold to act on a measure.”

And while Sen Blumenthal voted to support changing that 60-vote threshold, the measure was ultimately defeated.

“The gridlock we’ve seen is partly because of that 60-vote threshold,” the senator said, adding that one member’s prerogative to block a vote like in the Menendez case, as well as seniority measures should be evaluated.

Looking to the future and the possibility of a second term for President Obama, or even a newly elected Republican President, Sen Blumenthal said that no matter who occupies the Oval Office after this year’s election, that President will have to lead the nation in “wrestling down the debt and the deficit.”

“We need to restrain spending, and equally or more important, put Connecticut and the nation back to work — particularly for our veterans,” Sen Blumenthal said. “Leave no veteran behind when it comes to jobs, health care, and education. We have yet to see all the costs of these wars. We’ve seen some of the visible wounds of war…but the unseen wounds in terms of traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress — we’ll continue to see health care needs on the part of our veterans.

“I would hope that whomever is President will make sure our country is led in the right direction — jobs, jobs and jobs,” Sen Blumenthal concluded, “because jobs for Americans will help us eliminate the deficit and the debt and also address the needs of our veterans and all our people.”