A hearing of the Senate Transportation Committee went off the rails on Wednesday as Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) accused Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) of tracking the VINs on her teams' cars, reported Dan Diamond of The Washington Post.
According to Bloomberg News, Moreno was personally trying to investigate whether the cars driven by Democratic Senate staffers contain all of the safety features Democrats are pushing to make standard in new vehicle models. Rosen called his behavior "creepy," and the argument devolved into finger-pointing over the federal government shutdown.
"As someone who's been here 10 months, I think what we just saw is exactly classic Washington, D.C.," said Moreno. "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—"
"I object to you stalking my car, and my staff, to find the VIN numbers to present to this committee," said Rosen. "Why are you doing there — 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 will tell you what I have in my car."
"It's visible, it's visible from the outside of the car," said Moreno.
"So you went, followed me, you went and followed me to see who drives me, and write down their VIN number," said Rosen, as Moreno tried to continue speaking. "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."
"It's just to expose the hypocrisy," shot back Moreno. "Much like, for example, the fact that you get a paycheck—"
"I'm donating my paycheck," said Rosen.
"What about your staff?" said Moreno. "What do you say to the TSA workers? What do you say to the air traffic controllers?"
"I am saying to you, this is a Republican shutdown, my friend," said Rosen. "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. You are blind to the suffering of your people."
"You want to have this? Come talk to me in private," Rosen said as Moreno continued trying to talk over her.