‘I’m Just a Bill’: Sen. Hickenlooper Busts Out His Banjo In Schoolhouse Rock Inspired Ode to Voting Rights Bill

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) serenaded CNN’s Jim Acosta Saturday, with a Schoolhouse Rock-inspired banjo tune promoting the For The People Act, a voting rights bill supported by Senate Democrats.

Hickenlooper, a co-sponsor of the bill, spoke to Acosta about what would be needed to pass the bill. With control of the Senate evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, even with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker, the Democrats do not have enough votes on their own to pass the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster unless they can convince a few Republicans to join them.

So far, Hickenlooper said, he was not ready to give up on the filibuster and supported continuing negotiations on the bill. “We just have to keep working to try and get to 60 votes. And I think that entails a lot of listening. Active, hard listening and trying to hear what their real concerns are. And see if we can find some middle ground and get to that magical 60-vote threshold.”

Acosta asked Hickenlooper about the song he had written about the bill, and the senator warned that he was “not a banjo player,” just doing the best he could, before picking up his instrument and singing along with his version of the beloved Schoolhouse Rock tune that has helped countless kids learn the legislative process:

I’m just a bill, just a regular bill / and I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill / There’s a bill here in the Senate called The People’s Act / It gives power to the voters and not those corporate hacks / This bill will make it easy for voters to have their say / So let’s make elections fairer and pass S.1 today

“Senator, I think you sold yourself short,” said Acosta. “That was terrific. That was great. Well done.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.