"And one thing after another, he's made huge cuts to Medicaid to finance tax cuts for billionaires. He really set Elon Musk loose to do a reckless firing spree that impacts people's daily lives but affects Coloradans in every way."
That's Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper speaking to Indivisible Colorado members on a Zoom conference last week.
He said that he's been getting letters and phone calls from unhappy constituents urging his office to prevent Republicans from doing more damage to programs like Medicare and the Veterans Administration. Hickenlooper told the hundreds of virtual attendees that Democrats are doing everything they can.
Hickenlooper: "We're trying to disrupt business as usual every way we can. Um, obviously I mentioned that we slow down nominations, we hold up votes, we're sending letters to the administration, we speak on the Senate floor, we did an all night filibuster to protest when Vought was being nominated to be the head of the budget office.
Every one of these things tries to have a point to it. We're also trying to drive home the human impact of all these harmful actions, and the build pressure on the Republicans. And I spent a fair amount of time talking to the most moderate Republican senators and asking them, what do you think about Ukraine and Putin? And how do you feel about the President of the United States reaching out and ignoring our allies, and actually disrespecting them, and trying to be best buddies with fierce corrupt dictator?"
While the House is in recess until late March, representatives return to their districts to engage directly with constituents. The Senate also has the option to recess during this time. The influx of returning representatives is opening the door to a flood of angry complaints about the Trump administration in red and blue states alike.
Musk, whose DOGE agency is cutting thousands of federal jobs. Hickenlooper says that moderate Senate Republicans are feeling pressured by the Tesla CEO to support all of President Trump's decisions.
Hickenlooper: "This is the first time in history where you have, you know, one of the wealthiest guy, the wealthiest guy in the country, in the world, who's threatening each senator.
If they don't vote to support Trump's nomination, he will make sure that Republican Senator faces a primary with 50 million behind it. And so each one of them is trying to figure out, I'm not going to win this vote anyway, is it worth losing my career? Can I do more inside the Senate? I'm not defending a lot of these Republicans. I think they should have stood up, but it is the first time we've ever seen that kind of. threat and that kind of coercion."
Despite with their with their constituents might think or want, Colorado leaders think Republican lawmakers don't seem to be taking meaningful action to support their districts in the face of potentially harmful policy. Joining the Senator was Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. AG Weiser says he is deeply concerned about actions being taken by the [Presidential] administration.
Weiser: "There's an effort to take people's status as citizens by virtue of their birth. The 14th Amendment of the constitution says, if you're born here, you're a citizen. And the idea that a president could undermine that with an executive order is antithetical to our constitution, which says the constitution is the highest law on the land and a president's executive order can't overturn it."
Another concern for Americans in any area is continued access to health care. Indivisible moderators asked Weiser about a recent filing in support of the Affordable Care Act.
Weiser: "The Affordable Care Act has a key provision that guarantees access to preventative health care. This is important because it ensures that people can get cancer screenings and they're not going to have additional costs. This has been a big issue in the past where preventive health care wasn't covered, whether for heart disease or cancer screening.
This part of the Affordable Care Act mandates that all insurance providers offer preventive health care. I joined with my Democratic AG colleagues. at the Supreme Court to defend this provision. This is one of a series of attacks on the Affordable Care Act. As Senator Hickenlooper noted, they continue to attack this law. We're going to keep defending this law in the court of law and the court of public opinion."
Hickenlooper was asked what Democrats will choose to fight for in the Senate these next four years as those are the issues that can shape future presidential elections.
Hickenlooper: "Being able to afford your food and your shelter is something Democrats have always championed, now we need to prove that to the American people. And I think our vision for the party has got to be that we're fighting for Americans. We're going to lower the cost of health care, prescription drugs. We're going to protect social safety net programs people rely on and are paying for, we're going to lower the cost of living, [and] groceries.
Also, I think the wealthy should pay their fair share, and they certainly don't in many ways. People don't want to live in uncertainty and chaos, and I think the Republicans are their own worst enemy here. They're seeing a widespread backlash against Trump's harmful policies, and I think we just have to be, return to being the champion of working people. That's how we take back Congress, and ultimately we'll take back the White House."
Coloradans can contact senators on their websites or visit senate.gov. KDNK will continue to cover town halls and other meetings over this March recess.
