Did Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow vote for President Joe Biden’s nearly $500 billion student loan forgiveness scheme? Did they even have the chance?

I’m asking because, well, Biden seems to think they did. Or at least, that’s what a reasonable person can take away from his Sunday interview with young, progressive activists at NowThis News.

“It’s passed. I got it passed by a vote or two,” the president claimed.

Except, that’s not what actually happened. As The Wall Street Journal editorialized on Monday, “The only ‘vote’ was Mr. Biden’s, as he unilaterally declared the debt forgiven. His diktat was an extraordinary usurpation of Congress’s power of the purse, which is why several states are suing in federal court to stop it.”

It’s a curious Freudian slip for the president to make: Biden served in the U.S. Senate from 1973 until 2009. He knows all about “separation of powers” – the idea, which underpins America’s Constitution, that dividing power among three branches of government ensures a system of checks and balances.

President James Madison, Father of the Constitution, strongly advocated a “great principle in free government” which “separates the sword from the purse, or the power of executing from the power of enacting laws.” He understood the spending power is the “most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm” a branch of government.

“Thus, Biden articulated the correct principle in claiming to have passed his loan forgiveness program even by the slimmest majority,” law professor Jonathan Turley explained. “The fact that did not actually occur only highlights the fact that it should have occurred.”

So, did Bennet and Crow – who are both running for reelection this year and facing credible challengers in Joe O’Dea and Steven Monahan, respectively – ever cast a voting on cancelling student loan debt? No. But by refusing to challenge Biden’s anti-constitutional actions, they are complicit.

Though Crow previously supported legislation authorizing or expanding certain student loan forgiveness programs, it doesn’t appear that he’s taken any position on Biden’s action whatsoever. Instead, the representative for the 6th Congressional District has maintained silence.

As I discussed in August, Bennet tries to have it both ways. He’s said he would have gone a different course on student loans than Biden, but never once has he strongly opposed or challenged Biden’s usurpation of Congress’s constitutional authority.

When then-President Donald Trump unilaterally declared a national emergency to “build the wall” without congressional approval, Bennet opposed it.

“This should bother everybody who believes in our system of checks and balances – who believes in the Constitution,” he argued. Bennet pointed to Congress’s “power of the purse in our Constitution.”

By refusing to similarly protest Biden’s plan – and never demand the kind of votes Biden now claims took place – Bennet and Crow are both complicit.

On the other hand, the duo did have the opportunity to vote for legislation that would have nationalized elections under the guise of “protecting voting rights.” The legislation would have imposed a one-size-fits-all system for how elections are run across the country, as well as micromanaged everything from voter registration and early voting to vote-by-mail and election deadlines.

Ironically, the effort was disingenuously championed by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who’s supposed to defend Colorado’s strong election system.

“(I)t’s so urgent that we do everything we can to fortify democracy, the right to vote and the future of the nation right now,” Griswold gaslighted. In other words: undermining Colorado’s election system by approving the Democrats’ election bills was somehow necessary to evade a supposed existential crisis.

Jason Crow, in turn, was especially vigorous in his support. At an Aurora Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event, Crow baselessly accused his congressional opponents of trying to “unravel all the work” of Dr. King. Politicians will praise MLK, he added, but then “many of them will go off and do the opposite. Do not allow them to do that.”

Ultimately, when the House voted on its elections bill (HR1), it passed along partisan lines with Crow’s vote. The Senate version (S.1) failed, but it garnered Bennet’s vote.

Let’s be clear: Bennet and Crow voted to tie Colorado’s hands, limit the state’s ability to continue to improve elections and eradicate Colorado’s status among other states as an elections leader.

And as Joe Biden unilaterally charges half-a-trillion dollars to America’s national debt by usurping Congress and “wiping away” student loan debt, Bennet and Crow sit by and let it happen.

Coloradans deserve elected leaders who will do what’s best for Colorado and the Constitution. Alas, neither Michael Bennet nor Jason Crow fit that bill.

Jimmy Sengenberger is host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6-9 a.m. on News/Talk 710 KNUS. He also hosts “Jimmy at the Crossroads,” a webshow and podcast in partnership with The Washington Examiner.