A Hot Mic Moment Catches Senators Discussing Unattractive Colleagues And Trump's Mental Health

By Susan Wright | 3:30 PM on July 25, 2017

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*BANGOR, ME -- JANUARY 4, 2016 -- Senator Susan Collins, 63, discusses the priorities of the U.S. Senate Special Committe on Aging recently at her home in Bangor. Linda Coan O'Kresik | BDN*

Guys, it’s not like you shouldn’t have known. We’re not in the dark ages. Cameras and audio equipment are not of the devil. You just have to be responsible around them.

Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) were caught on a “hot mic” on Tuesday, discussing everything from how unattractive one senator was, to questioning President Trump’s mental health.

And here’s where all the mea culpas will kick in: The audio was streamed, in full, to the members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

Collins is the chairman of the committee, while Reed is the ranking member.

The comments came after the meeting. I think if they’d come before, there might have been an issue with getting through with the meeting.

Of the president’s budget proposal, Collins can be overheard saying:

“Whenever there was a grant, they just X-ed it out, with no metric, no thinking about it, no nothing. I mean it’s just incredibly irresponsible.”

She’s referring to Trump’s budget proposal that cuts out grants that support welfare and social service support.

Reed responded to Collins by saying, of Trump: “He’s crazy.”

Collins can be heard quietly saying, “I’m worried.”

Reed had other concerns, as well.

“If we don’t get a budget deal, we’re going to be paralyzed with DOD,” Reed says, referring to the Department of Defense.

Reed is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he’s referring to the defense budget that could max out at $549 billion the next fiscal year. The Budget Control Act (BCA), which puts a limit on spending for agencies.

It would put the DOD far below where they are now (and by about $70 billion below what has been approved by the House Budget Committee).

“I don’t even think he knows that there is a BCA,” Collins says, before the two continue talking about recent appearances Trump made at the USS Gerald R. Ford, in which he called on Congress to pass a budget.

I don’t think he knows, either, Senator Collins.

You should be out buying your colleagues a nice fruit basket. You probably have a few upset with you, right now.