Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) sparred in a tense exchange on Wednesday over the shutdown, and Moreno apparently tracking Rosen’s car to try and argue she’s a hypocrite. The shouting match happened during a Senate Commerce Committee meeting on transportation department nominees.
Moreno told the committee, “Would it surprise you that I got the VIN numbers of every one of my Democrat colleagues’ vehicles and found that none of them bought any of the additional safety technologies on their cars?” He added:
So when you are actually shopping for a car with your own money, you don’t buy the technology, but we’re sitting here saying that this should be mandated for everybody else’s cars and what’s been the result we drove up the price of cars almost doubled in the last 10 years.
He then added, “As somebody who’s been here 10 months, I think what we just saw was exactly classic Washington, D.C. In other words, the car that I drive should be safe. The car that my staff drives? Who cares about them? I get a paycheck.”
Rosen jumped in mystified, “I object to you stalking my car and my staff to find the VIN numbers to present to this committee. Why are you doing that? What are you going to do with them? It’s an invasion of our privacy.”
“If you came and asked me for my VIN, I would tell you what I have in my car,” she added as Moreno said, “It’s visible from the outside of the car.”
“So you went and followed me to see who drives me and write down their VIN number. You interrupted me. You’re attacking me. You watched me go to see who drives me, writing down their VIN number so you could find out what they have. That seems a little creepy! That seems a—” Rosen said as Moreno interjected:
Just to expose the hypocrisy, much like, for example, the fact that you get a paycheck, but you walk by— You get— You got a paycheck.
Rosen hit back, “I’m donating my paychecks, sir, and I would happily be on legislation not to give—”
“What about your staff? What do you say to them? What do the TSA workers— What do they say to air traffic controllers?” Moren fumed.
Rosen raised her voice and shot back, “What I am saying to you is this is a Republican shutdown, my friend. You are in control of the White House, you are in control of the House, and you are in control of the Senate. And if you went home to a food bank instead of going to Mar-a-Lago to eat at a gold-plated dinner while people are starving, you might see and hear your constituents, sir. You are blind to the suffering of your people!”
Moreno then demanded, “Does it take 60 votes?!”
Rosen hit back, “It takes you listening and coming to the table. If you want to have this, come talk to me in private.”
Watch the clip above.
