Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who announced his presidential candidacy last week, blamed the House Freedom Caucus' "tyranny" and other political agendas for immobilizing the federal government and called for ending partisan politics.
"I think pragmatism is important in the Senate because we actually have to get stuff done," Sen. Bennet told CNN's "New Day." "I've been in the Senate for the last 10 years, and we have not gotten very much done since I've been there. We've had a politics that has, mostly because of the Freedom Caucus' tyranny, that's immobilized the federal government."
If there is another decade "like this," the current generation will be the first in the United States "to leave less opportunity, not more, for the people coming after us," he added.
However, Bennet said as a presidential candidate, he is calling to restore "integrity" to the government, and he does not think "we have to accept the pathetic nature of our partisan politics that we've had to endure for the last 10 years or so."
He also shot back at Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for his comments he is running a "Seinfeld" campaign that is about "nothing."
"'Hello Newman,' for the Seinfeld fans out there," Bennet said. "Here is a guy who came to the Senate, stomped his feet on the floor, shut the government down while my state was flooded in 2013 and rode it all the way to a first-place finish in the Iowa caucus. Today we have incredible massive flooding in western Iowa. Congress still can't pass legislation to deal with these disasters."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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