CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Michael Bennet

Interview

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SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): I think any plan that would give us those 50 votes tomorrow, 50 plus one with the vice president would be an important signal to send to the American people. And I think it's important for them to also know what's in this bill. I mean, what Mitch McConnell just said on your program that what's in the bill is not a description of what's there.

What's there are voting reforms that we passed long ago in Colorado, that is one of the reasons why Colorado has the second highest voter participation rate in the country. So this bill is about getting more people to vote, not fewer people to vote. And I wish we could get some Republicans to actually pass it tomorrow.

TAPPER: One of the items that Manchin wants to include is requiring identification to vote. It would not require a photo I.D. It would let voters use documents such as a utility bill. Now, progressives say that those types of laws are discriminatory and disproportionately affect voters of color.

But according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 35 of the 50 states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of I.D. at the polls, including your home state of Colorado. Stacey Abrams didn't rule out supporting Manchin's bill if the voter I.D. requirement was included. Would such an inclusion be okay with you?

BENNET: I think it needs to be as broadly written as possible because the point is to try to make it easier for people to vote, not harder for people to vote. In Colorado where almost 100 percent of voters cast a mail ballot, what we have discovered is that the signature verification is actually much more reliable than voter I.D. is in other places. So, I'll have to see what the proposal looks like, but I think if it's drafted broadly, it should be okay.

TAPPER: "The New York Times" editorial board has a very sharp criticism of the For the People Act. They say, "The legislation attempts to accomplish more than is currently feasible while failing to address some of the clearest threats to democracy, especially the prospect that state officials will seek to overturn the will of the voters."

[17:20:03]

Now, I've spoken with a number of officials, Democrats and Republicans, who are concerned about the fact that you see in different states Republican legislatures and governors taking power away from local election officials and putting it in the hands of the partisan legislature. Do you understand those concerns and should you not instead be focusing on that threat given what we all went through in 2020?

BENNET: Well, I definitely understand those concerns and I share those concerns and we should be doing both. We should be addressing both. And, by the way, you know, one thing I'd like everybody to remember as we're considering passing this legislation here in Washington, there is legislature after legislature after legislature that are passing bills all over this country with only Republican votes. And there is no filibuster in any one of those American legislatures.

So, when Mitch McConnell is talking about trying to preserve an American institution, what he's really talking about is his abuse of the filibuster, which is different than what any other legislature in America is using today, including the ones that are trying to suppress the vote by Americans or put the decisions in partisan elected officials' hands about whether to certify elections at the end of the day. That would be a terrible thing for the country. And, unfortunately, Georgia has just passed such a law.

TAPPER: Would it not be better for the country if this were a bipartisan effort? In other words, I don't know, I'll just make it up. You and Senator Murkowski or you and Senator Sasse got together and wrote something that could get 60 votes and pass in a way that people would have respect for it across the board? I mean, the election was saved from being overturned because of not

just Democrats but some Republicans all over the country, election officials and judges and the Supreme Court. It was a bipartisan effort to save the election from being overturned. Don't you need to save future elections in the same way?

BENNET: Well, it would be great if we could figure out how to do it in a bipartisan way here. I want to underscore what you just said, which is because of local elected and appointed officials around this country, many of them Republicans, some of them appointed by Donald Trump and supporters of Donald Trump because they upheld their oath to the constitution, because they upheld their oath of office.

They saved our democracy in places like Arizona, in Michigan, and Georgia. That's absolutely the case. Unfortunately, in the halls of Congress, most of the Republicans here in Congress did not uphold their oaths. And I think it would be difficult to expect that they are going to help with a bipartisan bill to make it easier for people to vote.

I wish that were the case, Jake. And I'm certainly open to doing that. But I don't think it's realistic in Mitch McConnell's senate to expect it. This is a long-running play that he has been engaged in from all of the work he's done to undermine the campaign finance laws in this country, to get rid of transparency in our politics --

TAPPER: Yes.

BENNET: -- and to deny people to vote. And that's what's going on here.

TAPPER: But, senator, so I agree that most House Republicans did not uphold their oath of office because they voted to disenfranchise Pennsylvania and Arizona voters based on election lies. But that's not the case in the U.S. Senate.

BENNET: That's true actually. Most of the Republicans in the Senate voted to certify the election the night that the capitol was invaded in an insurrection. And I appreciate the fact that most of them did that, and I'm very sorry for the colleagues that helped to bring the mob here. But I still don't see in Mitch McConnell's Republican senate the opportunity to be able to work in a meaningful way to reform, to protect Americans' right to vote.

I regret that deeply. But when you look, for example, at the way people here on the Republican side of the aisle have completely shifted after Shelby on the issues around preclearance of elections, just to take that is a major stumbling block for the American democracy, you know, I think it would be irresponsible of me to stand here and give you a lot of hope that we're going to be able to get a bipartisan result when what you're seeing is a partisan effort all over the country to disenfranchise people from the right to vote.

TAPPER: Democratic Senator Michael Bennet from the great state of Colorado. Thank you so much, great to see you.

BENNET: Thanks, Jake. Great to see you.

TAPPER: Donald Trump may have an influential hold on the Republican Party, but he might not be their favorite for president in 2024. So who might have an edge? That's next.

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