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Hello everyone,
Last year, I rafted the Colorado River with Senator Mitt Romney and discussed solutions to building climate resilience in the West. We were joined by leaders from our states’ water, agriculture, business, and environmental communities, and we considered bipartisan approaches to address drought, wildfire, and other major natural disasters affecting the West.
The trip left me with a great deal of optimism and reaffirmed my belief that the West must lead in this endeavor. But the truth remains that the American West is in crisis. Across the major basins of the American West and especially along the Colorado River Basin, farm and ranch families grapple with a 22-year mega-drought that threatens our landscapes and livelihoods.
This week, Senator Romney and I led a letter with a bipartisan group of senators from the West urging the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give equal importance to the urgent priorities of Western growers and communities through existing authorities, new funding, and collaboration across government.
I helped secure $20 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act for USDA conservation programs. We believe these new resources – in addition to those in existing programs – should be allocated equally across the country to reflect the contribution of every region, including the West.
In Colorado and across the West, we come together to take on shared challenges. I’m bringing that same spirit to the Senate to create durable solutions to climate change.
Sincerely,
Michael
FIGHTING TO EXPAND THE CHILD TAX CREDIT AGAIN
With costs for housing, food, and childcare on the rise, Colorado families are struggling to make ends meet. Last year, we passed the expanded Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan to lift children out of poverty, cut hunger, and give parents and caretakers some breathing room every month. The tax cut worked exactly as we said it would – it lifted almost 3 million kids out of poverty in this country.
Congress never should have let the Child Tax Credit expire. At the end of every year, Congress debates extending tax breaks for corporations. This week, I joined colleagues, advocates and parents to make our message clear: we shouldn’t extend tax breaks for corporations without extending the Child Tax Credit.
Watch my full remarks HERE.
DELIVERING CLEAN ENERGY FUNDING TO RURAL COMMUNITIES
I fought to secure $14 billion for rural clean energy programs in the Inflation Reduction Act to help rural electric cooperatives in their transition to clean energy and invest in rural communities, homeowners, and small businesses.
If we’re serious about addressing climate change and investing in clean energy, we need to distribute these funds swiftly. That’s why I’m urging the USDA to create a plan to efficiently dispense this funding to rural communities and do so in innovative, flexible ways to help economically distressed communities that traditionally lack the resources to access these programs. We have no time to waste.
STANDING WITH FLORENCE FCC WORKERS
The Federal Correctional Complex in Florence, Colorado is our nation’s only federal super maximum facility, yet it remains one of the most understaffed prisons in the country. Maintaining proper staffing levels helps ensure the safety of inmates, workers, and communities around these institutions.
This week, Senator Hickenlooper and I called on the Biden Administration and the Bureau of Prisons to address these staffing shortages and unsustainable working conditions by raising wages for the dedicated employees at Florence FCC.
HELP COLORADO EXPAND HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS
Last year, I helped secure $65 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to connect every American to affordable, high-speed internet. But a big part of the broadband funding Colorado will receive depends on having an accurate map of which locations in our state have high-speed internet, and which ones don't.
If your home or business doesn't have affordable, high-speed internet, you have until January 13, 2023 to report it at broadbandmap.fcc.gov. We need everyone to help us make sure the map is accurate, so Colorado gets the funding we deserve.
OPEN ENROLLMENT ENDS SOON
Coloradans have until December 15 to shop for health insurance or change plans though our state’s convenient online marketplace for coverage beginning next year. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 80% of people are eligible for coverage at $10 or less.
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