Bernie Moreno admits to collecting vehicle identification numbers of Democratic lawmakers’ vehicles

During a U.S. Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) clashed over Moreno allegedly collecting the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) of vehicles driven by his Democratic colleagues.

The two senators got into an argument during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing focusing on nominees to the Department of Transportation. During the hearing, Moreno said he collected the VIN’s to see which Democrats had purchased optional safety features on their vehicles while supporting mandates for those same features.

“Would it surprise you that I got the VIN numbers of every one of my Democrat colleagues’ vehicles and found that none of them bought any of the additional safety technologies on their cars?” Moreno asked.

Rosen asked for Moreno to submit to the committee the VIN’s that he obtained, who’s privacy he violated and what he plans to do with the information. Moreno responded by saying the information is public because it is displayed on the windshield of the vehicles.

Later in the hearing, Rosen accused Moreno of stalking her staff and called his actions “a little creepy.”

Moreno’s office responds

Moreno’s Communications Director Reagan McCarthy responded to a media inquiry by doubling down on the senator’s stance that VIN’s are public and that he utilized the information to “expose Democrats’ hypocrisy.”

“Senator Moreno utilized information that is available to the general public to expose Democrats’ hypocrisy, and their willingness to hold Americans to a higher standard than themselves,” McCarthy said. “It’s a shame that Democrats choose to engage in selective outrage while they allow federal workers to miss their paychecks.”

Moreno’s staff did not clarify how many VIN numbers he collected and what he plans to do with the information.

As Rosen pointed out in the exchange, Republicans currently control all three branches of the federal government, which has been shut down for 37 days (the longest government shutdown in U.S. history). The shutdown stems from the Republican plan to let Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies expire at the end of the year, which will result in health insurance premiums sharply increasing across the country.

Republicans like Moreno have responded to the shutdown by blaming Democrats and falsely accusing them of wanting to give free health care to undocumented immigrants.