Udall, Bennet Land Flood Relief Dollars In Shutdown Settlement

UPDATE #2: The over two week-old shutdown of the federal government and accompanying debt ceiling crisis ends, for a couple of months anyway, as FOX 31's Eli Stokols reports:

In the end, all but one member of the Colorado congressional delegation voted in support of the legislation to re-open the government and avoid a potentially catastrophic default on the nation’s debts, which passed both the House and Senate Wednesday night.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, voted against the legislation, which passed the House on a vote of 285-144, with nearly all Democrats and roughly half of the House Republicans voting yes.

You'll recall that Lamborn had allegedly given up the fight well over a week ago, but with passage assured, it looks like he took the safe-seat opportunity to cast a protest vote. No doubt the 18,000 federal employees in his district appreciate his conviction. And please try to be understanding next time Lamborn's district catches fire.

Having voted to reopen the shuttered federal government and extend the debt limit, with only the most token of concessions compared to their original strident demands to "delay or defund" the Affordable Care Act, we'll leave our readers to debate the extent of the GOP's failure tonight. We'd say somewhere between epic and total.

—–

UPDATE: Sen. Mark Udall's statement a short while ago:

Mark Udall welcomed the passage today of a bipartisan deal to avert a destructive government default and end the ongoing federal government shutdown, which has hurt Colorado communities, Main Street businesses and middle class families for more than two weeks. The bipartisan agreement includes a Udall-championed provision to help Colorado rebuild flood-ravaged roads, bridges and highways.

"One of Congress's top duties is to support job creation, strengthen our nation's economy and help middle-class families thrive. But for several weeks, an extreme faction of one political party in one house of Congress manufactured a crisis and held our economic recovery hostage," Udall said. "It comes as no surprise that Coloradans overwhelmingly have rejected this extremist brinksmanship and instead implored members of Congress to collaborate on a bipartisan path forward. I’m proud that this bipartisan agreement finally will reopen our federal government, avoid a default on our nation's obligations, and deliver much-needed aid to Colorado's flood-ravaged communities — a provision I fought for."

"In the coming weeks, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address issues that I've pushed for years: reducing our nation's debt, passing immigration reform and a farm bill, putting in place more sustainable energy policies and making the federal government more accountable to taxpayers. But we must responsibly tackle these issues in inclusive ways that reject brinksmanship and political games."

—–

Image via Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Golden)

9NEWS' Raju Chebium:

A Senate deal aimed at ending the partial government shutdown and averting a debt default includes a nice chunk of change – $450 million – to help Colorado fully recover from the recent floods.

Aides to Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet say the Democratic lawmakers worked to include language in the deal to lift the $100 million annual limit on emergency highway funds Uncle Sam is allowed to provide to help states recover from natural disasters…

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the deal later today but the House's plans are unclear.

9NEWS omits this detail, but this is the same money that the entire Colorado delegation sought prior to the shutdown in the wake of last month's devastating Front Range floods. You'll recall that officials from both parties, including New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie, hammered Colorado Republicans for their "hypocrisy" (Christie's term) in seeking these funds after voting against relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy in January. The Washington Post reported that New Jersey Sen. Jeff Chiesa blocked the funds until given assurances that they would not be paid from the Hurricane Sandy relief money Colorado Republicans voted against–which they originally would have been. Local officials will be greatly relieved to see these funds fast-tracked as part of the deal to reopen the government, as opposed to waiting for another vote down the road.

There is still a chance, of course, that some or all of our Colorado House Republicans will vote against the Senate's bill to end the shutdown. The deal isn't expected to garner much conservative support, and will likely pass the House with the support of Democrats.

Given everything that's happened, we would strongly recommend Colorado Republicans swallow their ideological pride (or shame as the case may be) and vote yes. And then apologize to New Jersey.

View the original article here

Colorado Republicans Hammered By New Yorkers Over Flood Aid

Reps. Cory Gardner, Mike Coffman, Scott Tipton, and Doug Lamborn.

A story in today's New York Daily News is calculated to enrage their local readers, still recovering from last year's devastating Hurricane Sandy. It pertains to the lifting last week of a $100 million (mistakenly reported as $100 billion in this story) cap on emergency federal highway relief for Colorado after the recent devastating floods here. That stands out in ugly contrast to the vote by Colorado Republicans following Hurricane Sandy against relief legislation, which Rep. Cory Gardner claimed was in retaliation for Colorado being "treated differently" than other states. The original Sandy aid legislation, in full fairness, also contained money for flooding mitigation in Colorado, which was stripped from the bill by fellow Republicans. That's the excuse Gardner makes today.

But as the Daily News' Dan Friedman reports, nobody in New York wants to hear it.

Four Colorado Republicans — Reps. Cory Gardner, Mike Coffman, Doug Lamborn and Scott Tipton — opposed the Sandy aid for the Northeast but crowed after they secured federal disaster funding for their constituents.

New York lawmakers who had to wage a bitter fight for the Sandy money found the flip-flop by their Colorado counterparts too tough to take.

“Natural disasters don’t discriminate, but apparently Republican members from Colorado do,” the normally affable Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) told the Daily News.

“When Hurricane Sandy struck New York, Reps. Gardner, Coffman, Lamborn and Tipton opposed providing federal assistance to help us rebuild. But their opposition to federal emergency aid dissolved when their state was struck by historic floods.”

He added, “It’s the height of hypocrisy for them to have so quickly and conveniently changed their position. I only wish the best for the people of Colorado as they repair their lives after such devastation, but I hope New Yorkers make clear these members are persona non grata in our town.” [Pols emphasis]

To help fellow New Yorkers recognize these four newly "persona non grata" Colorado members of Congress, the story includes huge blow-up photos of all four Colorado Republicans who voted against the Sandy relief package: Reps. Gardner, Mike Coffman, Scott Tipton, and Doug Lamborn. And if you think it's just New York Democrats who are upset about the perceived hypocrisy, think again:

Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.), who called out fellow Republicans when they opposed the Sandy aid, said the Colorado lawmakers showed “real hypocrisy” in voting for the flood relief this week.

“You never know when and where these disasters are gonna hit,” King said. “They should just thank God, we didn’t use the same tactics against them that they used against us.”

King said one of the Colorado Republicans, who he declined to name, asked him before the vote if he was still angry over the Sandy vote.

“I said I was,” King said.

A little over a week ago, we wrote our open letter to the rest of America anticipating this exact criticism–so it's safe to say we're not surprised to see this. As we said then, the vote by local Republicans against Hurricane Sandy relief was roundly criticized, and it should not be considered representative of the population of this state–especially those now in need of relief themselves. This embarrassment aside, we do care about our neighbors.

As for these four "persona non grata" Republicans from Colorado? As they say back east, "screw 'em."

View the original article here

Shutdown Fears Impacting Flood Relief After All

Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Colorado to survey flood damage, and promised in a news conference Monday that any potential shutdown of the federal government would not impact federal response efforts to this month's devastating floods along the Front Range. The potential of a shutdown looms larger each day as the GOP-engineered impasse over "defunding Obamacare" drags on towards next Monday's deadline.

And as the Denver Post's Allison Sherry reports today, Biden was not quite right in that promise:

A group of 120 Utah National Guard engineers has been told to wait a week to help rebuild U.S. 36 between Estes Park and Lyons because of the gridlock surrounding funding the federal government, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Instead of sending out a team this week to help Colorado active-duty troops already on the ground, Utah's Lt. Col. Hank McIntire said he will send out a smaller group of 50 to get equipment ready in hopes that Congress strikes a deal to keep the federal government open beyond next week.

"If there were no budget issues, the whole contingent would be going now," McIntire said. "We're doing what we can and what the budget allows us to do."

Clearly, Biden's interest was in reassuring nervous Colorado flood victims that help would continue to flow to them no matter what. We assume that Biden was referring specifically to recovery services provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which would likely be prioritized if there is a shutdown. But with an organization with as many moving parts as the United States federal government, it seems almost impossible to guarantee no disruptions to emergency services in the event of a government shutdown. There's just too many diverse functions of government that would be affected.

This announcement from the Utah National Guard yesterday prompted Colorado Democratic Party chairman Rick Palacio to renew his call for Republicans to stop "threatening to shutdown the government and halt critical flood-recovery efforts," despite Biden's statement that flood relief wouldn't be affected by a shutdown. Reading this story, the onus appears still very much on Republicans who appeared with Biden to keep his promise–and the only way we see to do that is to not allow the government to shut down at all.

View the original article here

Gardner Works Fellow Republicans For Flood Relief Dollars

Rep. Cory Gardner (R).

7NEWS' Marshall Zelinger reports:

Hundreds of millions in emergency federal highway money will be coming to Colorado.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, told 7NEWS that the Colorado Congressional delegation was successful in getting the House Appropriations chairman to lift the $100 million Federal Highway Administration emergency relief funding cap.

"I'm excited that he's given us that promise to do that, to provide the emergency dollars that we need and get that statutory cap lifted as has been done in the past for other disasters," said Gardner…

As a number of liberal outlets including the nationally prominent ThinkProgress noted last week, Rep. Cory Gardner, along with the other three Republicans in Colorado's congressional delegation, voted against a bill funding reconstruction of areas affected by 2012's Hurricane Sandy. In this story, Gardner offers his explanation:

Gardner had already voted in favor of $17 billion in emergency aid for Superstorm Sandy. Before that bill was finalized, $33 billion in additional funds for pet projects were added to the Sandy bill. When Colorado's request was denied, Gardner voted against the emergency aid bill.

"I supported the Sandy package initially, and of course, when the secondary supplemental came through, I opposed it because they refused to put money for Colorado in it," said Gardner. "I was so frustrated this spring, when we had a chance to provide Coloradans disaster aid, just like we were to other parts of the country that had suffered, and of course, Colorado was treated differently."

The stripping of funds for Colorado flood mitigation–by Gardner's fellow House Republicans, don't forget–was a bipartisan sore point for our local representatives, but it didn't stop the Democrats in the Colorado delegation from voting for the final Sandy aid bill. Other Republicans like Rep. Doug Lamborn voted against the Sandy relief bill on ideological grounds that had little to do with provisions for local funding. With that said, the reality of Republican control of the House today means that Rep. Gardner, arguably the most influential Republican member of the Colorado delegation, is going to play a key role in obtaining federal aid for Colorado to recover from this disaster. The fact is, Colorado is likely going to need a comprehensive relief bill: not as many billions as was required for Hurricane Sandy, but Gardner has likely only delivered the first piece of what will ultimately be needed.

Bottom line: there is a justifiable and plain question of hypocrisy here, especially in the greater context of the fiscal debate in Washington. It is plainly hypocritical to vote against disaster relief for others, then expect it when you need it for your own constituents. In the larger debate over the role of government at all levels throughout America today, there are many such hypocrisies.

But for today, with Colorado citizens desperately in need, Gardner will be allowed to defer those hard questions.

View the original article here

Politicos’ Flood Damage Flyover Becomes Rescue Mission

SUNDAY UPDATE: CNN:

A helicopter surveillance mission Saturday carrying Hickenlooper and members of Colorado's congressional delegation was diverted twice to pick up people waving to be rescued.

After the officials' delayed arrival at a Boulder airport, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall promised a bipartisan push in Congress for federal aid for flood recovery. "That dog and the cat and those seven people on those two helicopters didn't ask us whether we were Democrats or Republicans," Udall said. [Pols emphasis]

—–

Left to right: Rep. Cory Gardner (R), Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), Sen. Mark Udall (D). Photo via Sen. Udall

Gov. John Hickenlooper and rescued Estes Park resident.

As the Boulder Daily Camera's Mitchell Byars reports:

Gov. John Hickenlooper, Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet and members of the state's congressional delegation on Saturday afternoon took a helicopter tour across flood-ravaged Boulder County and parts of Jefferson and Larimer Counties.

As a testament to the destruction and, in some places, still very dangerous situation in the state, the two National Guard helicopters the dignitaries were aboard stopped twice to rescue stranded people during the tour, officials said. They eventually picked up six people a dog and a cat, dropping them off at an airport in Larimer County before returning to Boulder Municipal Airport.

Hickenlooper estimated the group saw 55 sections of roads and highways that were either partially or totally destroyed by flood waters. In some places there was little evidence a road had been there at all, with everything down to the road base washed away. Despite the monumental effort that will be required for Colorado and Boulder County to recover from the calamity, Hickenlooper voiced optimism that the state would bounce back.

"I think the thing that we're all agreed to is that we're gonna come back and we are going to rebuild better than it was before," he said. "And as a community we're gonna come out stronger after the storm that we were before."

Action Tweeted in close to real time by Rep. Cory Gardner:

More photos from today's bipartisan rescue mission after the jump. 

Photo via Rep. Cory Gardner

Photo via Rep. Cory Gardner

Photo courtesy Rep. Cory Gardner

Photo via Rep. Ed Perlmutter

?

Photo via Sen. Mark Udall

Photo via Rep. Jared Polis

Photo via Rep. Jared Polis

View the original article here