Missing crucial Senate work

The Senate recently took a vote to override the veto against the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. Remember, this is the country that sanctions the murder of journalists and the civil war in Yemen. This also is the country that represses women and civil rights. The vote failed with 46 yeas, 41 nays and 13 not voting.

It’s interesting to note who failed to vote: Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

These senators are vying to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, yet they failed to perform their fundamental duty as senators by not voting.

Arguably, a two-thirds majority would not have been reached with their votes, but their failure to vote on this critical question speaks volumes about their commitment.

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee voted to overturn the president’s veto. One can only imagine if the candidates had stayed home and tried to persuade others, but they were missing in action. Washington, D.C., might be a good thing. It’s not. Cutting the BLM from the roundtable of the Interior Department in Washington is the Trump administration’s way of throwing expertise and experience in all things environmental under the bus, a way of forcing skilled managers and scientists to take retirement from the bureau.

The BLM relocation might be considered the signature accomplishment of Sen. Cory Gardner, but that’s a lot of puffery. It’s more likely payoff for his being a Trump sycophant. The move is meant to cut science and environmental protections for public lands out of the policy of land management and allow oil and gas, development and cattle grazing on public lands to run rampant.

This is another example of Trump’s disastrous Cabinet, mostly billionaires, wanting to destroy government agencies that protect our vast public lands in the hopes that the private sector can stake a claim to them, too.