Two senators forgot the cardinal rule of talking smack following subcommittee meeting Tuesday: Always make sure the mic is turned off.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island were caught on a hot mic at the end of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing questioning President Donald Trump’s mental health and slamming his administration’s understanding of the budget process.
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget eliminates a slew of grants that help provide welfare assistance for housing and transportation, which Collins said had her “worried.”
“Wherever there was a grant, they just X-ed it out, with no metric, no thinking about it, no nothing. I mean it’s just incredibly irresponsible,” Collins said.
Reed called Trump “crazy,” noting it’s not a phrase he throws around lately.
Reed isn’t the only one confused by Trump’s antics — the American Psychoanalytic Association is breaking with industry standard and giving the OK to comment on President Trump’s and other politicians’ mental health.
As for Reed and Collins? They are “worried” about the effect of the president’s psyche on things like the budget.
“If we don’t get a budget deal, we’re going to be paralyzed with DOD,” Reed says, referring to the Department of Defense.
He said without a new spending deal, the defense budget would top out at $549 billion for the coming fiscal year due to the spending ceiling imposed by the Budget Control Act.
Collins said she wasn’t even sure whether Trump even knows the BCA exists.
MALE SENATOR on FARENTHOLD: “You could beat the shit out of him.”
SUSAN COLLINS: “He’s huge … he’s so unattractive, it’s unbelievable.” pic.twitter.com/hyw6fKU15E
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) July 25, 2017
But Collins criticisms weren’t reserved just for Trump, she soon turned her attention to an overweight congressman who challenged Collins to a duel Monday when condemning Senate Republicans who are blocking the legislature’s efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Collins, a Republican, has been a vocal opponent of the Senate healthcare bills so far, speaking out against its cuts to Medicaid and higher out-of-pocket expenses for customers.
Reed told Collins she needn’t worry about Farenthold’s challenge because she “could beat the sh—t out of him.
“I don’t mean to be unkind, but he is so unattractive, it’s unbelievable,” Collins responded.
Before the mic cut out, Collins asked Reed if she had seen the 2009 photos of Farenthold in his pajamas at a Texas fundraiser posing beside a “Playboy bunny.”
Correction: The pajama’s Susan Collins mentioned that Blake Farenthold wore was for a Texas fundraiser in 2009. https://t.co/7Qho5kEoV7 pic.twitter.com/B7F6cdd8Xn
— Beatrice-Elizabeth (@MissBeaE) July 25, 2017
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Collins said Farenthold had sent her a handwritten apology and offered one of her own as well.
“Neither weapons nor inappropriate words are the right way to resolve legislative disputes,” she said. “I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning. I accept his apology and offer him mine.”
