I’m not much of a fan of Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), but this sort of experience has to stink:
Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama’s approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.
“The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide,” the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue.
But hey, why keep him apprised of changes in foreign policy regarding Cuba? He’s only a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of two Cuban-Americans in the Senate.
Then again, he did vocally support Hillary Clinton in the primary.