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Richard Blumenthal
Connecticut
Senator since 2011
2022 midterms
“I'm proud to stand with advocates...to demand a path to earned citizenship for immigrants & undocumented essential workers. After all of their work & sacrifices in hospitals, offices, & farms throughout the pandemic, we owe them fairness & opportunity”
No one can say that Brooklyn-born Richard Blumenthal, the 74-year-old Democratic senator from Connecticut, doesn’t have his detractors. They’ve even coined a joke about the hard-working senator that won’t seem to go away: “Where’s the most dangerous place in Connecticut? Standing between Dick Blumenthal and a television camera.”
There are many — especially many conservative Republicans — who just don’t like Blumenthal’s forthright and aggressive behavior. He has something to say — and do — about an avalanche of big and small issues that include everything from fighting for the economic stability of the middle class to pursuing gun safety and muscling up to Big Tobacco. In 2006, after winning re-election as attorney general of Connecticut, he went to war against MySpace, Facebook, and Craigslist on the premise that their overly lax controls encouraged sexual predators, pornography, and prostitution. During the financial crisis of 2008, he announced that Connecticut had joined three other states in suing subprime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial for conning customers into agreements that were “deceptive” and “unaffordable” and gouging them with legal fees.
During Blumenthal’s first term in the Senate, to which he was elected in 2010, he faced up to General Motors for their defective ignition switches and airbags by demanding they extend their compensation fund deadline for any victims of these defects who weren’t yet aware of the offer. Then, in the middle of his second term, he soundly rejected an immigration reform proposal from Senator Chuck Grassley and the Trump administration to eliminate the visa lottery system but also provide a path to citizenship for 1.8 million individuals brought into the U.S. without legal permission as children. He went after the NFL for underreporting the incidence of domestic violence among their players and managed to squeeze $25 million in donations from the league in an effort to decrease the frequency of such ugly incidents. In 2019, he pursued e-cig manufacturers for marketing to teenagers and also called for an absolute ban on flavored vapes. Such good deeds, it seems, rarely go unpunished at the Capitol and have left Blumenthal open to numerous attacks from across the aisle. He “goes after everything from shark fins to saline solution,” his opponent, Republican Dan Carter quipped mockingly.
Blumenthal earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1973, during the period when Bill and Hillary Clinton were also in attendance. His time there partially overlapped with his service in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1970 to 1976, where he attained the rank of sergeant, even though that credit would become a thorn in his side when The New York Times accused him of inflating the extent of it. In the early 1980s, he worked in private law practice, including serving as volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Blumenthal was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 by over 63 percent of the vote, a win perhaps all the more impressive since it came on the heels of two dramatic rebellions against then President Obama. In 2016, Blumenthal was among those Democrats who opposed the president’s Trans-Pacific Partnership; and it was Blumenthal, along with Chuck Schumer, who led the override vote on Obama’s veto of a bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.
—Bruce Benderson
Bruce Benderson is an author, essayist, translator, and educator who grew up in Syracuse, New York and now lives between there and New York City. Benderson has written nine books including User, Pretending to Say No, Sex and Isolation, Pacific Agony, and the award-winning memoir The Romanian: Story of an Obsession.
Voting Record
Regardless of the many issues that fill Richard Blumenthal’s day, to say he is “all over the place” would be patently unfair. A brief glance at his long political career and many areas of activism may give the impression that he’s stretched himself too thin—especially for someone in his seventy-fourth year—but a closer look recasts him as a tireless, Type-A energy machine with a deep commitment to government who has never flagged during his many years of service. Currently, his top 6 issues can be ranked in the following order:
—Transportation and Public Works
—Health
—Armed Forces and National Security
—Crime and Law Enforcement
—Finance and the Financial Sector
—Immigration
While fighting for most of these issues he has seldom failed to stir public opinion because of his penchant for “telling it like it is.” In September 2019, for example, he publicly lambasted Amazon over evading responsibility for multiple deaths and serious injuries caused by contractors delivering Amazon packages. In a letter to Jeff Bezos that was also signed by two other Democrats, Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown, he scolded, “It is simply unacceptable for Amazon to turn the other way as drivers are forced into potentially unsafe vehicles and given dangerous workloads.” This isn’t to say that the charge was able to occasion any remorse on the part of Bezos, who had already made his position clear in responding to similar charges with the words, “The assertions do not provide an accurate representation of Amazon’s commitment to safety and all the measures we take to ensure millions of packages are delivered to customers without incident.”
Blumenthal had a near-perfect attendance record for his first term in the Senate during the 113th session, which was his first. He missed only .25 percent of the 658 votes that were cast and introduced 63 bills, five of which were approved; and co-sponsored 398 bills, 13 of which were approved. He has also participated in the 114th, 115th, and 116th sessions of Congress. His most important votes during the 115th session included:
Yes, on the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (HR 2).
Yes, on the First Step Act of 2018, which mandated making changes to the criminal justice system.
No, on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
No, on the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act amendment, which proposed withholding funding from sanctuary jurisdictions for not cooperating with federal immigration officials.
No, to an amendment that would repeal the requirements for individuals to enroll in health insurance and for employers to offer it.
No, to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would amend the federal criminal code to make it a crime for any person to perform or attempt to perform an abortion if the probable post-fertilization age of the fetus was 20 weeks or more.
Most recently (2019–2020), the senator has cast the following key votes:
Yes, on blocking President Trump’s six-month-old declaration of an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, which had allowed him to bypass Congress and reallocate funds to build a border wall.
No, on imposing caps on federal spending through 2029 that do not exceed $3.5 trillion a year, and to allow the debt limit to be raised only after Congress sent a balanced budget to the states for ratification.
Yes, on temporarily funding the federal government through December 20, 2019, in order to keep it open, but also to renew the Patriot Act.
Yes, during February 2020, on convicting President Trump of the “high crime and misdemeanor” of abuse of office and removing him from that position.
Yes, on prohibiting U.S. military actions against Iranian targets unless Congress authorizes the use of force.
No, on banning abortion after 20 weeks.
Yes, on providing federal aid for coronavirus economic impacts in March 2020, as well as on mandating that businesses with fewer than 500 employees offer paid sick leave for two weeks, increasing federal unemployment insurance payments to the states by $1 billion, providing more federal money for food aid programs, prohibiting the Trump Administration from strengthening social welfare benefit work requirements, and providing waivers to insurance companies to give no-cost coronavirus tests, among other things.
According to numerous rankings, Blumenthal is one of the most reliable Democratic votes. In 2019 he cosponsored the most bills compared to all other senators and got bicameral support on the 4th most bills compared to all senators.
Policy Positions
Covid-19
Since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, Blumenthal has attacked problems on every front of the issue. In June 2020, while Trump was touting the properties of unproven “miracle drugs,” Blumenthal wrote the Federal Trade Commission and the FDA to express his alarm about the marketing and sale of deceptive products claiming to prevent or cure Covid-19. The issue would become intensely personal for him in November of that same year when he was inadvertently exposed to an infected member of the staff of Connecticut governor Ned Lamont. Blumenthal was forced to go into quarantine, but little more than a month later, he appeared on Twitter to publicize his first shot of the Pfizer vaccine. In late January 2021, he sponsored a bill designed to protect the privacy of health information during a national health emergency; and during the heated wrangling over a stimulus package late this fall, he stressed the need to move faster on Covid-19 relief and made it quite clear whom he faulted for the slow pace of passing it by complaining, “We could vote on Thursday if Mitch McConnell puts it on the floor of the Senate.”
LGBTQ rights
His record on LBGTQ issues is slightly more checkered. In 2004, while serving in the Connecticut legislature, his announced legal opinion was that same-sex couples could not marry in Connecticut because the state’s “statutes do not allow or authorize issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.” He did, however, suggest that the law could be altered by the Connecticut General Assembly, and currently he has spoken out strongly in favor of same-sex marriage.
Policing, Internet Safety & other issues
Blumenthal received a 73 percent rating from the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), which was formed to evaluate a politician’s support or opposition to issues of importance to police and crime. Two of his strongest focuses in this area have had to do with keeping children safe from predators online and with ending domestic violence. Other issues about which Blumenthal has spoken strongly have revealed that he favors a woman’s right to choose, would like to legally require businesses to hire more women and minorities, wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and make voter registration easier, expand Obamacare, beef up the military, and provide pathways to citizenship for illegal aliens. Blumenthal opposes privatizing Social Security, denies any absolute right to gun ownership, is against allowing Palestine to join the International Criminal Court because of a fear of its threatening Israel, and does not believe in providing citizens vouchers to pay for school choice.
Endorsements
Kim Callinan
:
President & CEO of Compassion & Choices:In December 2020, Compassion & Choices, the nation’s largest end-of-life care advocacy organization, endorsed new legislation introduced by Senator Blumenthal to improve end-of-life care. About the Blumenthal bill, Kim Callinan, said, “The coronavirus pandemic underscores the need to improve our advance care planning policies so that doctors and families are not
Connecticut Post:
:In 2016, the newspaper the Connecticut Post endorsed Blumenthal’s run for 2nd term as a U.S. Senator. In an editorial, the paper stated: “While his interests are widespread, the senator has kept his focus — and his not inconsiderable muscle — on the big issues, including, but not limited to, gun safety, rail safety, and fighting for the middle class and consumers by continuing the work he began as attorney general in Connecticut.”
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations:
:In 2016, 240 American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations delegates gave their support to Blumenthal for a second term. Blumenthal thanked them by saying, “For an entire professional career I have believed in you and you have believed in me.” He added that such support goes beyond any endorsement.
Population Connection Action Fund:
:In 2016, the Population Connection Action Fund, the political arm of the nonprofit Population Connection, announced its endorsement for his re-election. John Seager, president of the Fund, stated:“Population Connection Action Fund is proud to endorse Richard Blumenthal for re-election to the United States Senate. Senator Blumenthal has stood up to protect women’s health at every turn, and for that we support him.”
State: Connecticut
Due to his long tenure in the Connecticut state legislature, before becoming a U.S. Senator in 2010, Blumenthal racked up an impressive list of accomplishments on his home turf. He went full-attack on Big Tobacco, sued the Bush administration for polluting the atmosphere, and led the pursuit of Internet predators as part of a coalition of 50 states.
Recently, in the U.S. Senate, as many states are dealing with foundering budgets and overwhelmed healthcare systems, he has made some statements to remind fellow residents of Connecticut that he hasn’t forgotten them and is searching for more ways to bolster their economy and create more jobs at home. Specifically, on his website he has stated, “I’m committed to making sure Connecticut businesses have the tools they need to succeed. My Manufacturing Reinvestment Accounts Act would give a much-needed targeted tax break to small business owners in Connecticut—many of whom want to hire new employees but may be waiting for the economy to fully recover to do so.”
Blumenthal’s efforts to raise the minimum wage, stop the epidemic of student loan debt, reverse the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries, and award tax breaks to small businesses rather than giant corporations were all partly designed by him based on the idea of improving living and working conditions in his home state as well as in others. He also discovered a way to demonstrate his dedication to individuals in Connecticut when the parents of a nine-month-old in the state discovered their child had had a stroke before he was born and would need months of expensive developmental therapy, which their private insurance company eventually stopped paying for. The parents contacted Senator Blumenthal, who became instrumental in getting the insurance company to reverse its decision. That experience also led Blumenthal to research other incidences of prenatal stroke, which in turn led to him introducing a United States Senate resolution to raise awareness for children with similar disabilities. The resolution was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent.