BRATTLEBORO-U.S. Sen. Peter Welch provided the coffee and doughnuts, and the 50-or-so people in attendance provided the questions during an hour-long listening session on Oct. 5.
The “Common Grounds” event at Brooks Memorial Library was part of a series of events that the state’s junior senator, a Democrat, has held around the state in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“What we’re seeing in Washington is a direct confrontation with values that we’ve had in Vermont, and in this country, throughout our history,” said Welch in his opening remarks. “That’s equality. That’s opportunity. That’s mutual concern. That’s respect.”
He contrasted that with he called the “absolutely gross” ethics of the current administration: “That you’re a sucker if you don’t cut in line. You’re a sucker if you don’t take advantage of knowing somebody that can get you the inside track and making a billion dollars. You’re a sucker if you actually pause to think about what the impact is of what you’re doing to the environment for future generations.”
In his two decades in Congress, Welch said that he has participated in many debates over public issues but that he never imagined that an election result could be reversed and the will of the voters would be ignored.
He expressed his concerns about the Nov. 3 election, especially if Republican Congressional candidates are swept out of office and Democrats resume control over one or both houses of Congress, as many political polls have been indicating in recent weeks.
Welch harkened back to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters violently swarmed into the U.S. Capitol and attempted to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results and Joe Biden’s path to the presidency.
“I don’t know Democrats who would challenge the outcome of an election, and 167 of my colleagues did,” said Welch, referring to the Republican members in both the House of Representatives and the Senate who refused to certify the 2020 election. “But that has crept into our political life, and it’s got to be exterminated to some extent. It’s going to be requiring us to take a risk.”
A recent appearance by FBI Director Kash Patel before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Welch serves on, illustrated those concerns.
“Two of my colleagues asked him whether he was planning on having FBI agents at the polling places, and he said he wouldn’t do that,” Welch said. “None of us believed him. I asked him again, and he got mad at me for my ‘charade of lies,’“ he said.
During the hearing, as recorded and streamed by C-SPAN, Patel told Welch that the FBI stations an election crimes community coordinator “in all 56 field offices, so you bet we’re going to have them there and manning the post for election interference matters.”
Welch told the audience in Brattleboro that “the movement we’re in is about pushing back and restoring the commitment to democracy, the commitment to community, the commitment to shared prosperity, the commitment to working together, including with people we disagree with. That is what I see as the biggest challenge we face.”
Welch emphasized that none of the other policy priorities expressed by a majority of Americans — healthcare reform, addressing economic inequality, dealing with climate change — can be addressed unless “we have a commitment to a shared purpose.”
“If not, we will see more of “the kind of ‘survival of the fittest mentality’ that we’re seeing in Washington right now,” he said.
Tariffs, healthcare, and Iran
The U.S. war on Iran was a concern of many in the audience. Welch decried the Republican refusal to permit a vote to invoke the War Powers Act, which puts limits on how and when our nation goes to war.
“I’ve got to get my Republican colleagues to accept doing their job,” said Welch. “It’s up to us to decide whether your sons and daughters go to war.”
That can’t be delegated, he said.
“And it is of enormous concern and heartbreak to me that many of my Republican colleagues, who I’ve gotten to, in many cases respect and appreciate, won’t pull the trigger and say this is our job, not [the president’s],” Welch continued.
The growing crisis in rural healthcare was also on the minds of those in attendance. Earlier in the day, Welch visited with nurses and leaders at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s Birthing Center, which had been targeted for closure until an outpouring of community support helped lead to the reversal of that decision.
Welch discussed the importance of increasing access to rural health care and how to grow the health care workforce in rural communities.
“What kind of healthcare system doesn’t have a birthing center in the community?” he said. “That’s a real indication of a systemic problem, but if I ask my colleagues from Kansas or Idaho, they will tell me the same thing.”
The challenges in Brattleboro “are challenges they face in their states as well,” Welch said.
“My goal is to get us to understand the challenges that we face are shared challenges, and by definition, a shared challenge can only be solved with a shared solution,” he added.
Tariffs, particularly those targeting Canada, was another hot topic. Welch cited several examples of Vermont businesses that seen the cost of equipment and raw materials double in the past year.
“There is no justification. There’s not even any credible economic theory that supports that,” Welch said. “The decision to implement those tariffs was made by a single person [President Donald Trump]. There was not a vote in Congress. There was not a discussion. It was one man.”
‘We need to have some humility’
While the audience was almost totally comprised of those who opposed the president, many were skeptical of whether a Democratic majority in Congress could be effective in bringing about positive change.
Welch, who will next be on the ballot in 2028 and who has formally declared his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, admitted that if Democrats do win back Congress in November’s elections, “we have to have some humility that this was not a victory for us. It was an indictment of the president.”
That means the party needs to act “in a way that earns your trust,” he said, noting the emphasis on “doing things that would make a difference“ like “childcare, healthcare affordability, housing, workforce training.”
“I think we earn your trust when we show seriousness of purpose,” Welch said.
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.