During what was intended to be a routine Senate Commerce Committee hearing on transportation appointments, tensions flared into a heated exchange between Senators Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Bernie Moreno from Ohio. Rosen accused Moreno of surveilling her and her team, turning the spotlight away from the initial agenda.

While questioning Ryan McCormack, President Trump’s nominee for under secretary of transportation for policy, Moreno said he obtained the vehicle identification numbers (VIN), which are typically visible through the front windshield, of his Democratic colleagues’ cars.

Moreno critiqued the lack of advanced driver assistance technologies in certain vehicles, arguing this undermines the Democratic push for mandatory safety features in cars.

Rosen retorted later in the hearing, saying that she does not have a car in Washington, D.C. In fact, the car that her staff drives her to work in is theirs. 

Rosen labeled Moreno’s actions as an “overreach” and a breach of privacy, demanding he disclose the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) he had collected along with his intentions for their use.

A few minutes later, Moreno and Rosen got into it again. After the Ohio Republican implied that Rosen did not care about the safety of her staffers’ car, Rosen objected and called Moreno’s actions “a little creepy.”

“If you approached me requesting my VIN, I’d be transparent about my car’s specifics,” Rosen remarked.

Moreno defended his actions, claiming he sought the VINs to “highlight [Rosen’s] hypocrisy.” This dispute quickly spiraled into a broader argument concerning the prolonged government shutdown.

Moreno noted that Rosen, like all members of Congress, receives a paycheck during the government shutdown, while her staff, air traffic controllers and other federal workers do not. Rosen replied that she is donating her paycheck, and blamed Republicans, who are “in control of the White House [and] the Senate,” for the funding lapse.

“If you went home to a food bank instead of going to Mar-a-Lago, to eat at a gold-plated dinner while people are starving, you might see and hear your constituents, sir. You are blind to the suffering of your people,” Rosen said, referencing the president’s Halloween party at his South Florida club.

A spokesperson for Moreno told The Hill that the senator’s remarks “speak for themselves.” The Hill has also reached out to Rosen’s office for further comment on the exchange.