Exclusive interview with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) talks about the issues with ReminderNews. Photo by Steve Smith.

If you want a direct answer to issues affecting residents in Connecticut, ask U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D). A straight-shooter during his 20 years as the state’s attorney general, his first year in Washington has not compromised his directness, but it has brought surprises. Describing the experience as exciting, challenging and satisfying in many ways, he said it is also frustrating because of the political gridlock. “It has been a real challenge trying to get things done,” he said during a visit last week to the ReminderNews.

A perfect example is the payroll tax cut. “I supported an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment compensation for one full year. We had different ideas how to pay for it in the senate, but reached a compromise on a two-year extension for both programs,” Blumenthal explained.

Once the bi-partisan compromise bill was taken to the House, however, “It has become hostage to a small minority of Tea Party members that strike me as basically ideological extremists who don’t want to go along with compromise,” he said.

“Every dollar paid on jobless benefits is spent,” said Blumenthal, who believes that getting consumers to spend money is essential for the country’s economic recovery. “I think this issue goes to the core of our economic recovery and economic security,” he said, adding that he was hopeful the House would approve a short two-month extension of the benefits until something more permanent can be agreed upon.

The pace of life as a U.S. senator has been another surprise for Blumenthal. A member of four committees – Judiciary, Armed Services, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and the Special Committee on Aging – his weekdays are a round of committee meetings, hearings, votes on the floor, seeing constituents and learning, always learning.

Still, Blumenthal comes home every weekend. “Three of our children are out of the house, but my daughter is still a senior in high school, and we are going to continue to live in Connecticut. I will continue to come back to Connecticut every weekend, because I find listening to people here is very important,” he said.

It was to that end that the senator asked to visit with ReminderNews reporters about some of the issues concerning readers in the eastern part of the state.

On the economy: “The unemployment rate is linked to both general stagnation of pay and benefits, and there is also a failure to [enact] more reforms that we know are necessary to correct it,” said Blumenthal. Referring to the return of bonuses being given to the banks that were involved with the bail -out, he said, “People resent that apparent unfairness. Most people feel they should be getting bonuses, and most are stuck in jobs that don’t give bonuses even though they are working harder. I opposed the bail out, because it didn’t do enough for Main Street.”

“A lot of small business owners are saying banks aren’t loaning money, yet big organizations are sitting on trillions of dollars, which is not creating new jobs.” Blumenthal said many have trillions of dollars banked overseas, where they haven’t been paying taxes on it, and now they want to bring the money back to the U.S. without paying taxes on it either.

Blumenthal is concerned about the concentration of wealth in the country. ‘Actually, I am giving a speech on the floor of the Senate about the trend toward increasing concentration of wealth,” he said, noting that the top 1 percent of the population has increased its wealth by 275 percent, while the average income earners have increased by 59 percent and the bottom 20 percent has increased only about 18 percent during the same time period.

Jobs are out there, said Blumenthal, but, “they have to have people with the skills to match the jobs.” Noting that the “American Dream” is under siege, where a person by virtue of his or her education and hard work could experience upward economic mobility, he noted, “You can’t legislate dreams, but you can try to provide more opportunity for education. That is why I have been focusing on community colleges to train and educate people for the jobs that provide mobility.”

On the cost of education: “We should continue to expand Pell Grants and the Community College Innovation Act,” said Blumenthal. “They need more equipment, infrastructure and facilities.” Having visited Asnuntuck Community College recently, the senator said, “Asnuntuck needs machines to train people and equipment for the welding program for advanced technology.” He said curriculum is also needed at some community colleges to train teachers to teach new things.

“Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in this country,” Blumenthal said, “and we must find a way to provide relief from that debt.” He cited abuses of the federal government’s loan program by for-profit colleges who “entice people to enroll, run up huge debt and either fail to finish or have been unable to find jobs because basically they were not well-suited for the academic programs in which they enrolled.” Veterans, he said, are chief among the victims of this practice.

The senator said he will remain the strong consumer advocate that he is so well-known for in this state. “I am actually a senator that other senators look to for leadership in that area,” Blumenthal said, adding that all of them come with some expertise, based on their experience in professions that include medical people, legal people and even the occasional comedian. Discussing how he helped to form a group of states’ Attorneys General to investigate the housing and mortgage debacle a couple of years ago, he said he is “working with some of my colleagues to adopt new statutes to provide stronger protection for homeowners and to make federal programs more effective.”

Part 2: Blumenthal has more to say about housing, the military, farming and politics in next week’s issue.