Colorado's Sen. Michael Bennet engages in talks aimed at extending health care tax credits and ending the government shutdown
Thousands of federal workers in Colorado are furloughed indefinitely as Congress remains deadlocked on federal funding.
The Colorado Department of Labor says there are 54,300 federal workers in Colorado, which is about 3,000 less than there were in December. It says the state will provide unemployment benefits to those who are furloughed and deduct that money from their back pay when the shutdown ends.
Dueling bills to end the shutdown failed in the Senate Wednesday and there are no more votes scheduled until Friday. The White House is warning that if Congress does not make progress soon, some federal workers will be fired.
"This is not fun and games for the American people," said Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat and Colorado's senior senator.
He says there is a bipartisan group of lawmakers trying to find a compromise.
"I think it was a good sign that there were conversations going on this morning on the floor of Senate and that I was party to," he said.
Democrats and Republicans are at loggerheads over tax credits for people who get health insurance on the exchange. The credits expire the end of the year, and the Colorado Division of Insurance says premiums will increase by 174% on average for 225,000 Coloradans, a third of whom are self-employed.
Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who represents Colorado's 1st Congressional District, says time is running with open enrollment on the exchange starting Nov. 1.
"Republicans are going to hear from their constituents. They're going to hear that health care costs are just skyrocketing and they're going to have to come to table and work this out with us. And we stand ready, willing and able."
Democrats want to extend the credits permanently at a cost of $30 billion a year.
That's a non-starter for Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert, who represents Colorado's 4th Congressional District.
"I'm certainly willing to look at options as they're presented but right now to hold the American people hostage in a shutdown for extending these tax credits that were only supposed be a part of COVID relief when we are so far away from a pandemic, so far out of that, is absolutely absurd," she said.
House Republicans passed a bill to extend current government funding levels through Nov. 21. While a couple of Democrats in the Senate voted for the continuing resolution, Republicans need at least seven Democrats to avoid a filibuster.
Bennet, who is forgoing his pay during the shutdown, says most Democrats are holding firm on an extension of the tax credits.
"I think that there are people on both sides of the aisle that understand the damage that's going to be done to the American people if these tax credits expire, and that should provide enough incentive for us to get to a bipartisan agreement and get the government open," he said.
Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican who represents Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, has a bill to extend the tax credits a year, but Republicans also want reforms to the program to cut down on fraud.
The Trump administration fanned the flames by announcing it would be canceling $8 billion in climate related projects in 16 blue states. While some reports say Colorado is one of those states, the Colorado Energy Office says it has not received any communication from the Department of Energy about funds being canceled.
Polis says he doesn't expect any impacts to state-run programs that receive federal funding for now but, he says the longer the shutdown lasts, the greater the impact will be to those programs and the overall economy.
The governor secured $7.5 million in state dollars for WIC - a nutrition program that helps 100,000 women, infants and children in Colorado. The money will keep the program running for a month.
Polis has also offered up state Parks and Wildlife officers to help keep national parks open.