Sen. Michael Bennet Michael Farrand BennetOVERNIGHT ENERGY: House Democrats tee up vote on climate-focused energy bill next week | EPA reappoints controversial leader to air quality advisory committee | Coronavirus creates delay in Pentagon research for alternative to 'forever chemicals' Senate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency Next crisis, keep people working and give them raises MORE (D-Colo.) said Thursday that Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzSenate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg Cruz: Trump should nominate a Supreme Court justice next week Renewed focus on Trump's Supreme Court list after Ginsburg's death MORE (R-Tx.) and the House Freedom Caucus have wreaked havoc on Washington politics for years.

"The last ten years of our politics in Washington we have been tyrannized by these guys in the Freedom Caucus and Ted Cruz… who have imposed their very idiosyncratic view on America on America,” Bennet said on MSNBC's "Meet the Press."

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Bennet was being interviewed after giving a fiery speech on the Senate floor earlier Thursday where he tore in Cruz.

Host Chuck Todd pressed the Colorado senator about why he decided to give the speech, despite usually being known as a subdued lawmaker.

“I remember sitting in that chamber when Ted Cruz shut the government down to read Green Eggs and Ham while Colorado was being flooded and people were literally dying in my state, when the federal government was shutdown over stupid petty politics,” Bennet said.

Cruz, who was a freshman senator at the time, led the charge to shut down the government in an attempt to defund for the Affordable Care Act in 2013.

He also stressed that while the government shutdown itself is bad, it is symptomatic or larger issues.

“It’s time for us to get out of this mess that we’re in. But it’s not just about the shutdown, Bennet said.

"It’s our failure to invest in our infrastructure, it’s our failure to educate our children, it’s our failure to take care of alliances around the world. All of this stuff, at a time when China is rising and Russia is pushing out, matters a lot.”

Bennet has been speculated to be considering a 2020 presidential run, as several Senate colleagues have either announced or are expected to announce their own campaigns.

Bennet was noncommittal when Todd pressed him on it.

“I’m thinking about it, Chuck, like every single other person in this building is thinking about it," he said.

The government has been shutdown since Dec. 22 over a stalemate between the White House and congressional Democrats over President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE’s demand that $5.7 billion for a border wall be included in any spending bill to reopen the government.