DENVER (KDVR) – The shutdown of the federal government continues. Services nationwide are starting to feel the impact. Here at home in Colorado, the state is stepping up to fill the gap. But how long will it do that?
There’s still no clear path to a solution in Congress. Colorado may be gearing up to keep things running, at least for now.
“It’s just unfathomable, the chaos, the dysfunction, the inability to come together to address the needs of the American people,” said Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat representing Colorado’s seventh congressional district.
Frustration is building on Capitol Hill in Washington and beyond as the federal government remains closed for the 23rd day. With federal funding shuttered, the state of Colorado is footing the bill for some things.
Colorado Moves to Temporarily Fund Services
“Where we can, like staffing a visitor’s center at a national park, we’re going to do it to get through this as easy as we can. In the meantime, I call upon congress to reopen the government and fix the rising healthcare costs,” Governor Jared Polis told reporters Thursday.
The governor announced the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Tourism Office (CTO) will work together to spend $3,200 a day to keep two visitor centers open at Rocky Mountain National Park. This comes after he requested $10 million to help cover the loss of SNAP funding and an extension of the $7.5 million the state’s Joint Budget Committee (JBC) approved earlier in the shutdown for WIC. Members of the JBC say they plan to approve the latest funding request next week to approve it by the end of the month.
FOX31 asked JBC Chair Senator and Colorado State Treasurer Candidate Jeff Bridges if this state can continue to handle the fiscal impact. “We’re okay for now, and again, we do expect the federal government to reimburse these costs once they open back up. We’re just waiting on Republicans at the national level to say: yeah, we are going to help make sure that these increases in premiums called by us don’t entirely fall on middle-income people, trying to get healthcare coverage on the exchange,” Senator Bridges said. “You’re talking about like toddlers and moms who can’t afford to eat. Yeah, we should be helping those folks. It is the federal government that has stepped in and said we are going to do that, they created the program, that’s great, we support it, but now they’ve bailed and we have to step in and make sure that those kids and those moms don’t go hungry. And at the end of the day, if we have to absorb that, it’s the right thing to do. No question.”
State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, ranking Republican member of the Joint Budget Committee and a 2026 Republican gubernatorial candidate, expressed her displeasure with the way the governor is covering services in lieu of federal funding. “I’m greatly concerned here that he is just creating another problem. I mean this clearly is one of those cases where he’s trying to make it look like he’s doing something, he’s not doing enough and he’s just going to go make matters worse,” she said. “We have emergency planning processes in place. It’s called incident command. He could have brought all of his departments together, we could have brought non-profit groups in, school districts in, Feeding America, Hunger Free Colorado, all of those groups, the food banks, the food pantries, we could have brought them all in an asked how do we develop a plan that works. He didn’t do that. That’s why I am frustrated with him.”
Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Remain a Sticking Point as Representatives Wait to Vote
Democrats on the Hill are refusing to budge without a permanent solution for enhanced premium tax credits, healthcare subsidies designed to keep premiums low set to end on December 31. Republicans in Colorado are telling those Democrats to get it together. “Senator Bennet and Senator Hickenlooper: stop gambling with everybody’s lives and their ability to feed their children. Go back and do the vote you need to vote. Go figure out how to work out your problems,” said Senator Kirkmeyer.
Vote to Release Epstein Files likely awaits
House Democrats say they would vote on a separate, long-term measure for the subsidies to go along with the bill to fund the government they already passed but the House speaker will not call them back in for a vote.
“We haven’t been brought back in the House and I think this that makes it less likely that they’re going to bring us back for a continuing resolution that goes past January because of them needing to swear in the Arizona representative who they are unwilling to swear in,” Congresswoman Pettersen said. “It is not a coincidence that she is the last vote needed to force a vote on the Epstein files; which Donald Trump is desperately trying to avoid and leadership has fallen in line.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will hold a vote on the Epstein files once members get back to work if the signatures are there and Senators pass the House’s spending plan.
House Democrats from Colorado and Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert have signed on to the petition to vote on releasing the files.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
