Donald Trump
Colorado’s Michael Bennet on Al Franken: ‘I’m confident he’ll do the right thing and step aside’
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, said Wednesday he was “confident” that Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., would “do the right thing and step aside” amid multiple allegations that Franken sexually harassed or assaulted various women.
“Sexual harassment and misconduct are never acceptable,” Bennet said in a statement posted to Twitter, noting that Franken said minutes earlier he would make an announcement Thursday morning. Continue reading
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
Sessions: Marijuana use is ‘detrimental,’ Justice Dept. still reviewing enforcement policies
DENVER – There are ongoing discussions within the Justice Department about making changes to marijuana enforcement at the federal level, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday.
At a press conference announcing new efforts to fight the opioid abuse crisis across the country, Sessions said he still has large concerns about the legitimacy of legal marijuana programs, and that his Justice Department met Tuesday to review possible changes. 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
Coloradans increasingly displeased with President Trump, poll finds
DENVER – Colorado voters are increasingly displeased with President Donald Trump and are looking ahead to 2018’s political races with high interest, according to a new poll released this week.
The poll from Keating Research, based in Telluride, shows two-thirds of state voters have an unfavorable opinion of the president, and three in five think he is “dishonest and tells lies.” 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