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Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet opposes filibuster of Neil Gorsuch, use of ‘nuclear option’
DENVER – Michael Bennet, Colorado’s Democratic U.S. senator, opposes a Democrat filibuster of Judge Neil Gorsuch but still hasn’t definitively said whether he’ll vote for or against the Colorado judge for a Supreme Court seat.
Bennet announced Monday that he would oppose a filibuster that is growing increasingly likely in the Senate, as Bennet becomes just the fourth Democrat to say they would oppose such a move by the Democratic colleagues. Continue reading
Trump cozies up to Colo. Rep. Ken Buck while slamming rest of Freedom Caucus over AHCA revival
DENVER – After chiding a conservative group of congressmen for helping upend the House plan to replace Obamacare for the past week, President Donald Trump on Thursday cozied up to one of its members: Colorado’s Republican Rep. Ken Buck.
“Great op-ed from Rep. Ken Buck. Looks like some in the Freedom Caucus are helping me end Obamacare,” Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon, linking out to an op-ed Buck wrote for The Hill Wednesday in which he called for the revival of a new health care bill. Continue reading
A sharp rise in overdose deaths, including in Colorado, led to highest premature death rate in years
DENVER – Premature deaths in the U.S. have risen steadily over the past couple of years, and drug overdoses surpassed injuries as the main reason for the early deaths for the first time since tracking began.
The 2017 County Health Rankings report, compiled by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that premature death rates (people dying before age 75) rose by a full 1 percent – amounting to 39,700 people who died early compared to 2014. Continue reading
ICE report targets ‘uncooperative’ cities in Colorado; local agencies say they’re in line with law
DENVER – Several Colorado agencies are named in the first weekly report issued by federal immigration authorities that documents where undocumented immigrants committed crimes and which local law enforcement agencies allegedly failed to comply with immigration detainers.
But the report is already raising eyebrows among the agencies in Colorado, as well as other in other cities across the country, who say the report from the Department of Homeland Security gets some of the data wrong and falsely accuses them of not honoring federal law in the latest fight over “sanctuary city” status. Continue reading
Bennet is ‘keeping an open mind’ on Gorsuch confirmation as he, Gardner introduce SCOTUS nominee
DENVER – Colorado’s Democratic Senator, Michael Bennet, joined his Republican counterpart, Sen. Cory Gardner, in introducing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch to the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a move Bennet said was aimed at bridging Congress’s partisan divide.
At Monday’s introduction of Gorsuch, who is from Colorado and has spent the past several years as a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Bennet lamented his colleagues’ failure to give President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, a hearing – in some cases, not even a meeting. Continue reading
Projection: 600K Coloradans will lose Medicaid, state will lose $14B by 2030 under AHCA
DENVER – Colorado would lose $340 million in federal funding in 2020 when Medicaid provisions under Obamacare run out under the GOP-sponsored American Health Care Act, and the state stands to lose $14 billion in federal funds by 2030, according to analysis on the proposal released Thursday by the Colorado Health Institute.
The report says the state will have to choose between cutting up to 600,000 Coloradans from Medicaid by 2030 or making cuts to the state budget the nonpartisan CHI says would be “historic.” Continue reading
EPA pays out $54K more to Colorado for Gold King Mine reimbursement costs
DENVER – Colorado and some local jurisdictions in the southwestern part of the state are getting fractions of what was initially sought in reimbursement money from the Environmental Protection Agency for the August 2015 Gold King Mine spill, but received another $54,000 Thursday.
The EPA said in January that it would not fully repay the 73 claims from both governments and private entities worth $1.2 billion for the spill, which was caused by EPA contractors and hampered communities in southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico and southeast Utah for months. Continue reading
Coffman-Carroll competition for 6th Colo. House seat was among few close races nationwide
DENVER – Not only did Colorado have the fourth-highest voter turnout of any state in last year’s election, but one of our House races was among just a handful with a margin of victory within 10 percentage points in an election that was largely a landslide for congressional seats nationwide.
The U.S. Elections Project and Nonprofit VOTE released a report titled “America Goes to the Polls 2016” that details voter turnout and voting data from the 2016 election on Thursday. Continue reading
Colorado undocumented immigrant student supports bill expanding license, ID program in state
DENVER – Colorado’s undocumented community and immigrants’ rights groups say the program allowing undocumented people to get IDs and driver’s licenses is immensely helpful, and say they are supporting a new bill that would expand the program.
House Bill 1206 is set for its first committee hearing Wednesday in the House Local Government Committee. Continue reading
24 million Americans would lose insurance under GOP proposal to replace Obamacare by 2026, CBO says
DENVER – Twenty-four million people who would be insured under Obamacare would not have insurance under the new health care bill supported by President Trump and House Republicans by 2026, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released Monday.
The CBO report, also compiled with the Joint Committee on Taxation, has been highly-anticipated since House Republicans first introduced the American Health Care Act just more than a week ago, as it anticipates the expected impacts on the federal budget and American people. The JCT released some initial estimates last week. Continue reading