{"id":38636,"date":"2022-08-31T20:44:54","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T02:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/if-bennet-is-re-elected-hell-be-colorados-longest-serving-senator-heres-what-hes-done-in-congress\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:45:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:45:34","slug":"if-bennet-is-re-elected-hell-be-colorados-longest-serving-senator-heres-what-hes-done-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/if-bennet-is-re-elected-hell-be-colorados-longest-serving-senator-heres-what-hes-done-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"If Bennet is re-elected, he\u2019ll be Colorado\u2019s longest-serving senator. Here\u2019s what he\u2019s done in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet speaks to reporters alongside fellow elected and local officials during an event regarding new federal funding slated for Interstate 70\u2019s Floyd Hill in Clear Creek County on Feb. 23. (Andy Colwell\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

CAMP HALE \u2013 If Michael Bennet is re-elected in November and serves out his full six-year term, he will become Colorado\u2019s longest-serving U.S. senator in the century since state legislatures stopped selecting senators.<\/p>\n

Ask the Denver Democrat to name his accomplishments in his 13-plus years in the Senate and he\u2019ll provide a long list, including expanding the child tax credit for a year, improving broadband access through the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law a few months back, and securing $4 billion for Colorado River water conservation in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to mention the dozens of bills he\u2019s worked on as a cosponsor and that were signed into law since he arrived in the Senate in 2009 after being appointed to his seat by then-Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat. Bennet\u2019s name wasn\u2019t necessarily on the marquee for those measures, but it appeared very high in the credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve been one of the most effective senators in the time that I\u2019ve been in the U.S. Senate,\u201d Bennet told The Colorado Sun while attending a roundtable near Leadville earlier this month where he was trying to add another success to his list: the passage of the stalled Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Act, which would grant additional protections to hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land in the state.<\/p>\n

But as Election Day approaches, Bennet\u2019s unflashy approach has opened him up to criticism from Republicans, who are painting him as a do-nothing member of Congress who can\u2019t even get one of his signature bills, the CORE Act, passed despite Democratic control of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The GOP and Bennet\u2019s opponent in November, first-time candidate and Denver construction company owner Joe O\u2019Dea, see Bennet\u2019s record as a vulnerability. They argue that given his long tenure in Washington, Bennet should be able to get what he wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that Bennet\u2019s absence of results is because he lacks any real clout or respect,\u201d Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown said in a written statement, citing the languishing CORE Act.<\/p>\n

Bennet called it \u201cidiotic\u201d to argue that he should have been able to get the CORE Act passed with Democrats in charge in Congress and Joe Biden in the White House, citing the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for a measure to pass in the Senate. Democrats have just 50 seats in the chamber, limiting how much they can get done even though they are in the majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CORE Act, unfortunately, has been blocked by Joe O\u2019Dea\u2019s party over and over and over again,\u201d said Bennet, who is now asking Biden to take executive action to boost protections for the land that would otherwise be shielded under the bill.<\/p>\n

Bennet said Republicans keep saying he\u2019s ineffective, \u201cbut I think the evidence is exactly the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sun took a look at Bennet\u2019s record to help voters decide.<\/p>\n

Evaluating Bennet\u2019s work<\/div>\n

It\u2019s difficult to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of a member of Congress.<\/p>\n

Simply counting the number of bills they introduce and thus sponsor, and which ones are signed into law, doesn\u2019t capture the breadth of their work. Bennet\u2019s supporters say that\u2019s especially the case for Colorado\u2019s senior senator.<\/p>\n

In addition to lawmaking, for instance, U.S. senators have oversight roles, important committee assignments and help constituents. Sometimes they offer amendments or work to pass bills that originated in the House. Other times they work behind the scenes to negotiate funding and policy.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet answers questions to the media along side with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, at left, on Aug. 16, during a visit at Camp Hale near Leadville. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun file)<\/span>Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bennet, for instance, takes credit for $4 billion in Colorado River water conservation funding that was in the Inflation Reduction Act. Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona demanded the money be added, but Bennet said he helped ensure the spending benefited the entire Colorado River Basin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very concerned that the language was going to benefit the Lower Basin of the Colorado (River) and not the Upper Basin and not Colorado itself,\u201d Bennet said recently on a podcast run by Democratic operatives. \u201cI went on national television and I said, \u2018I am not going to vote for a bill that does anything to harm the interest of the Upper Basin of the Colorado or Colorado itself.\u2019 We then had a negotiation that I led to try to get language that the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin states could agree to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinema wanted $5 billion while Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia wanted the funding pared back to $1 billion, Bennet said. He claimed credit for negotiating the final $4 billion number, saying he spent an evening on Manchin\u2019s boat to get the deal done.<\/p>\n

Only one standalone bill \u2013 a measure that\u2019s not combined with another piece of legislation \u2013 introduced by Bennet which he was the prime sponsor of has been signed into law, according to govtrack, a website that keeps tabs on Congress.<\/p>\n

That was Senate Bill 1541, a bipartisan measure from 2011 that expanded the eligibility for membership in the Blue Star Mothers of America, a nonprofit group, to include grandmothers and other guardians who have children serving in the military. It also expanded membership to eligible mothers living outside of the U.S.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Dea, who is running to unseat Bennet in November, often makes the claim that Bennet has passed only one bill. But that statement lacks important nuance.<\/p>\n

Twelve other bills introduced by Bennet have been combined with other measures that were signed into law, according to govtrack. The legislation spanned a wide range of topics, from the environment to trying to tackle childhood hunger to helping develop genetically targeted drugs.<\/p>\n

By Bennet\u2019s campaign\u2019s count, the senator has worked closely on more than 100 pieces of legislation that were signed into law. The campaign arrived at that number by counting bills Bennet was an original cosponsor of, meaning he signed on at the time it was introduced and likely had a major role in shaping the policy.<\/p>\n

Their count includes the House version of a bill introduced in the Senate to designate Colorado\u2019s Granada Relocation Center \u2013 also known as Camp Amache, where Japanese Americans and people of Japanese descent were interned during World War II \u2013 a national historic site that was signed into law in March.<\/p>\n

It also includes the Better Buildings Act in 2015, which encouraged tenants of commercial buildings to reduce energy consumption. The bill was folded into another piece of legislation that was signed into law. There was also a measure letting home appraisers offer their services to Habitat to Humanity for free.<\/p>\n

Bennet\u2019s campaign also compiled a 37-page document outlining the tens of millions of dollars in funding the senator secured in Congress\u2019 most recent budget for infrastructure projects, early childhood education, public safety and housing in Colorado. There was $4.5 million for construction of a new courthouse in Moffat County, $57.4 million for Interstate 25 corridor projects and $11.6 million for affordable housing projects and efforts to address homelessness in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to Michael\u2019s work, more Coloradans have access to affordable health care, more Colorado public lands are protected,\u201d said Georgina Beven, a spokeswoman for Bennet\u2019s re-election campaign. \u201cWe\u2019re funding critical infrastructure projects across the state, we\u2019re restoring our forests and watersheds, and we are now, finally, making real investments to protect our climate which will grow Colorado\u2019s clean energy economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fewer bills introduced than other senators<\/div>\n

The Center for Effective Lawmaking, an initiative by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, aims to track the effectiveness of members of Congress in a nonpartisan way using a scoring system that evaluates how many standalone bills a lawmaker has introduced, the importance of those bills and how far they made it in the legislative process.<\/p>\n

According to the group\u2019s analysis, Bennet has been low on the effectiveness rankings among Democrats since he took office.<\/p>\n

In the 116th Congress, for instance, the Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked Bennet 41st out of the 45 Democrats in the chamber for the session that began in January 2019 and ended in January 2021. (Bennet was running \u2013 unsuccessfully \u2013 for president in 2020.)<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Bennet generally puts forward less bills than the average Democrat,\u201d University of Virginia Professor Craig Volden, who is a director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, said in explaining why Bennet ranks so low.<\/p>\n

In the 116th Congress, for instance, Bennet introduced 43 \u201csubstantial\u201d bills in the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans. None of them were signed into law. Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, whom the Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked the top Democrat, introduced 84, 10 of which were signed into law.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican who lost his 2020 reelection bid, was ranked 10 out of the 54 Senate Republicans in the 116th Senate. Gardner introduced 70 substantial bills, two of which were signed into law.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., speaks at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in 2019 in Clear Lake, Iowa. (John Locher\/Associated Press file)<\/span>John Locher\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the 113th Congress, when Democrats controlled the Senate from January 2013 to January 2015, then-U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, was ranked 40 out of the Senate\u2019s 57 Democrats, one rung below Bennet. Udall was ranked 26 out of the Senate\u2019s 52 Democrats in the 112th Congress, while Bennet was ranked 36 out of 52.<\/p>\n

Volden acknowledges that the Center for Effective Lawmaking\u2019s rankings don\u2019t necessarily capture the full breadth of work by a member of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are looking at is lawmaking,\u201d he said, \u201cand so people who engage in other activities, like doing great communications back home or doing oversight work or tailoring money to their district or state, those aren\u2019t what we are looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and one of the most powerful lawmakers in Washington, is ranked low despite her position of great influence.<\/p>\n

Notably, the center doesn\u2019t track bills members of Congress sponsor or cosponsor that are signed into law after being included in larger packages, such as Bennet\u2019s Carbon Capture Improvement Act, which was added into the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed earlier this year, or the STOP Surprise Medical Bills Act, which was put in the omnibus spending bill signed into law in 2020.<\/p>\n

Bennet\u2019s campaign also points out that the senator was often the lead Democratic cosponsor on bills introduced by Republicans in years when Democrats were in the minority, like a 2016 measure naming a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Pueblo the PFC James Dunn VA Clinic. The bill was introduced by Gardner and Bennet was the sole original cosponsor.<\/p>\n

(There can only be one sponsor of a bill, but a measure can have an unlimited number of cosponsors.)<\/p>\n

The center also doesn\u2019t give lawmakers credit for shepherding House bills through the Senate \u2013 like the Rocky Mountain National Park Boundary Modification and Park Ownership Correction acts and the Yucca House National Monument Expansion Act \u2013 or offering amendments.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Center for Effective Lawmaking doesn\u2019t take into consideration lawmakers\u2019 work on the budget process, where spending for specific projects in their home states can be secured by representatives through the earmark process.<\/p>\n

Bennet\u2019s campaign argues the center\u2019s evaluation process has \u201cnumerous shortfalls.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Volden said he has found that lawmakers who get high rankings from the Center for Effective Lawmaking also tend to be the ones who are the best at the work the organization doesn\u2019t measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone who\u2019s very active in advancing their bills also tends to be more active on policy making behind the scenes, putting out ideas, advancing (ideas) in others\u2019 bills and so on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How would Joe O\u2019Dea do it differently<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen I go out and I talk to people across Colorado, half of them don\u2019t know who (Bennet) is,\u201d O\u2019Dea said, pointing to that as evidence Bennet hasn\u2019t been effective in Washington.<\/p>\n

Polling in recent months has indicated that a share of Coloradans are unfamiliar with Bennet\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\"Joe
Joe O\u2019Dea, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet, speaks during a primary election night watch party late June 28 in Denver. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)<\/span>onset<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One poll conducted in late July among 500 likely voters by McLaughlin & Associates, a Republican firm based in New York, found that 45% viewed Bennet favorably, with 33% saying they view him unfavorably, 10% saying they had no opinion and 11% saying they\u2019d never heard of the senator.<\/p>\n

The same poll found 27% of respondents view O\u2019Dea favorably, while 22% said they had an unfavorable view of him. About 19% said they had no opinion and 32% said they had never heard of him.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin & Associates has a C\/D rating from FiveThirtyEight, the nonpartisan election and sports statistics site. Of 27 polls analyzed by FiveThirtyEight, McLaughlin called 69% correctly.<\/p>\n

The poll also found Bennet is leading O\u2019Dea by a wide margin. Forty-eight percent of those polled said they would vote for Bennet while 40% said they would back O\u2019Dea, and 12% said they were undecided.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Dea, who has never held elected office, has not led Bennet in a publicly released poll. Still, he thinks he can do better in Washington at advancing his priorities, such as slashing federal spending and boosting American energy production.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how to negotiate,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you spend your life, 35 years, building infrastructure across the state \u2013 most of my customers are government entities, and I know how to talk to them. I know how to get things done. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done all my life. That\u2019s what I\u2019ll do when I get to the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennet has said O\u2019Dea is just running on \u201ca bunch of slogans.\u201d<\/p>\n

If O\u2019Dea is elected, he would likely be serving in a Senate where his party is in the minority or only has a narrow majority. Like Bennet \u2013 who has worked in government positions for most of his life \u2013 he would have to try to navigate the tricky politics of Washington to get anything done.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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