Congress
Colorado starting to decide which kids, mothers at ‘greatest risk’ should CHIP funding expire
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday the state was in the process of creating a list of children and pregnant mothers who are at the “greatest risk” should Congress not fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) before Colorado’s funding runs out at the end of January.
“This is probably one of the very few issues the majority of Republicans and Democrats all agree should be a priority for funding in this country,” the governor said Tuesday. Continue reading
Senate, House will now hash out GOP tax reform differences in conference committee
DENVER – After Senate Republicans passed their version of the tax reform bill in the early hours of Saturday morning—just hours after the bill was released—members of Congress will now work to settle major differences between the versions passed by the Senate and House.
Both versions cut more than $1.4 trillion in taxes while adding billions to the federal deficit, but exactly how those cuts are made differ between the two bills. Continue reading
JCT dynamic score of Senate tax reform bill shows it falls short of most GOP growth estimates
DENVER – The official nonpartisan committee of Congress tasked with reviewing the economic effects of legislation said Thursday, in a new dynamic score, that the bill Senate Republicans brought out of the finance committee will increase revenues and the nation’s GDP far less than was originally estimated by the Trump administration and some other Republicans.
The Joint Committee on Taxation’s much-anticipated dynamic score of the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the tax reform bill estimates that the nation’s gross domestic product would increase by about 0.8 percent over the next 10 years, which would generate a relative revenue gain of $458 billion over the same time period, but which would also tack on an additional $1 trillion to the national deficit. Continue reading
Colorado’s Hickenlooper urges bipartisan tax reform changes: ‘Trickle down economics is a fairytale’
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday urged the state’s congressional delegation not to support the Republican tax bill the Senate could vote on later this week, saying the bill, as is, would hurt Colorado’s economic progress.
“Congress should not pass on almost $1.5 trillion in additional debt to future generations, and hand out tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans who don’t need them—and in many cases, don’t even want them—at the expense of the middle class and the poor,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. Continue reading
Gardner ‘hopeful’ for bipartisan amendments on tax reform as Bennet slams bill
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner was a key vote in the Senate Budget Committee’s Tuesday passage of the Republican-led tax reform effort, which the full Senate could take up starting Wednesday.
Calling the committee vote an “important step” in the tax reform efforts, Gardner said the bill, which is still changing, “will increase wages, grow the economy, create jobs, and benefit hardworking Coloradans.”
The Republican from Colorado hasn’t committed to voting one way or the other on the bill, as he did with votes on repealing the Affordable Care Act earlier this year, but there were greater concerns over whether his fellow Republicans, Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, would support the measure’s passage out of committee. Continue reading
Colorado sends letters to CHP+ recipients warning that federal match runs out at end of January
DENVER – Colorado is advising people who use the state’s Children’s Health Plan Plus (CHP+) program to start looking for private insurers in the event that federal funding for the program runs out early next year.
The state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing started sending letters to the approximately 70,000 people covered by CHP+ notifying them that if Congress doesn’t act to restore federal CHIP funding, which helps fund CHP+ in Colorado, that the state’s matched funding will run out at the end of January. Continue reading
Report: Single donor gave $28.5 million to ‘dark money’ group touting Gorsuch for Supreme Court
DENVER – A single person gave $28.5 million to a nonprofit whose “dark money” was eventually used to buy ads touting Colorado’s Neil Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court seat he was eventually confirmed to, according to a new report from MapLight.
According to tax documents obtained from the Wellspring Committee, a Virginia nonprofit, the committee received more than $32 million in donations—much of the money anonymously donated because of the organization’s social welfare 501(c)(4) status. Continue reading
National Park Service extends public comment period for proposed fee hike
DENVER – The U.S. National Park Service has granted an additional 30 days for the public comment period for people to sound off on the proposed fee hike that would triple the amount it costs to visit certain parks, like Rocky Mountain National Park.
NPS said Tuesday it had already received more than 65,000 comments on the proposed hikes ahead of the original Thursday deadline. It said the new deadline, set for Dec. 22, was made “to accommodate interest in this issue from members of Congress and the public.” Continue reading
Rep. Diana DeGette says ex-congressman tried to force kiss on her, alleges other harassment
DENVER – Congresswoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., alleged in an interview Monday that a former congressman tried to force a kiss on her in an elevator and that she’d been sexually harassed several other times in her career.
The new allegations from DeGette came in an interview with Katy Tur on MSNBC’s Meet the Press Daily. Continue reading
House passes tax reform measure: what lawmakers from Colorado are saying
DENVER – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 225-207 Thursday to pass a sweeping tax reform bill while the Senate GOP finalizes its version of the bill. If the chambers can come to a passing compromise, there would be sweeping effects on the nation’s economy and Americans’ tax brackets.
The GOP is trying to pass a full tax reform measure for the first time in 30 years and has deemed it imperative to their platform heading into 2018.
Though the bills have been undergoing changes this week and some were still being made in the Senate as of publication of this story, there are a few things we know about the bills: Continue reading