Dems Unhappy with Colbert's Planned Testimony
Roll Call reports:
Comedian Stephen Colbert is sure to draw plenty of media attention Friday morning when he testifies before a House Judiciary subcommittee about immigrant farm workers. But at least one Democrat on the committee is not happy about the prospect of treating the Comedy Central host as a policy expert.
“I don’t think he should be here. It commercializes the committee, ” Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) said.
Colbert plans to testify about his role in a United Farm Workers campaign called “Take Our Jobs, ” an effort that invites U.S. citizens and legal residents to replace undocumented immigrant field laborers. The goal of the campaign is to build momentum for passing legislation that would give undocumented farm workers the right to earn legal status by continuing to work in agriculture.
The comedian spent a day in August working on a New York farm to highlight how demanding the work is; he will feature the experience on his show, “The Colbert Report,” on Thursday night.
Cohen, who emphasized that he is “a big fan” of Colbert and has even been on his show, said that unless the comedian intends to testify about issues related to acting or television, he should not appear before a Congressional panel.
“Picking vegetables for 10 hours doesn’t make him worthy of testifying before a committee,” the Tennessee Democrat said.
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