July 02, 2025 01:04 PM UTC

Get More Smarter Roundup for Wednesday (July 2)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today is the 183rd day of the year, which means we are officially more than halfway through 2025. Let’s Get More Smarter! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast.

Warm Up Those Brains…

► All eyes are on the House of Representatives now as Republicans try to finalize the Big Beautiful Bullshit Budget Bill (B5) that narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday. From POLITICO:

With a series of votes already underway, Republican leaders and White House officials have accelerated their all-hands-on-deck push Wednesday to get the GOP megabill through the House and to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Multiple groups of House Republican lawmakers who have aired grievances with the Senate-passed version of the domestic policy bill have met Wednesday with Speaker Mike Johnson and have visited the White House to speak with Trump, who has demanded the bill get done by July 4.

Some potential holdouts sounded close to backing the sweeping legislation. “In the end, it’s hard to vote against making tax cuts permanent and fixing defense,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who announced his retirement this week.

But a key group of conservative hard-liners signaled it was ready to dig in and fight for additional changes to the 887-page bill passed by the Senate.

Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, called on Trump to order senators back to town for further negotiations — a demand that would almost certain mean missing Trump’s July 4 deadline for final passage.

Those comments from Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) are particularly odd given that he has announced plans not to seek re-election in 2026 — a decision that appeared to be driven by the dismissal of his concerns about the scope of cuts to Medicaid. Some Republicans do seem to be bristling at the idea of pushing the bill through before Friday, including Wisconsin Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden:

Of course, it would surprise nobody if Rep. Van Orden eventually caved anyway. The right-wing House Freedom Caucus might help save those remaining Republicans with a conscience. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia calls the process “a shit show.”

If you need more info on the Republican budget bill, here’s a good explainer from Vox.com.

► Any one of Colorado’s four Republican Members of Congress (Reps. Jeff “Bread Sandwich” Hurd, CO-03; Lauren Boebert, CO-04; Jeff Crank, CO-05; and Gabe Evans, CO-08) could likely stop what may well be the single worst piece of legislation in modern American history. It seems unlikely that Evans will be the one to push back, but Hurd is sounding a different tone, via The Aspen Times:

Hurd’s congressional district spans much of the Western Slope and southern Colorado and has the highest rate of Medicaid recipients in the state. Hurd, in a statement shared through his spokesperson on Tuesday, said the bill “is going to require significant changes in order to pass.”

“I look forward to working with leadership and my colleagues to pass a bill consistent with the promises we made on the campaign trail,” Hurd said. [Pols emphasis]

You mean, like this promise from a 2024 campaign ad?

► Governor Jared Polis is pushing hard for House Republicans to step back from the brink of passing their disastrous budget bill. He’s in Washington D.C. to lobby in person and participate in a press conference with Democratic members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation.

Elsewhere:

♦ The Colorado Sun reports on the collateral damage that could come from tightening Medicaid requirements.

♦ Colorado Newsline talks to Democrats who call the Republican budget bill, “Cruel.”

♦ The Associated Press has more on the final shape of the Senate bill passed on Tuesday.

♦ Fox 31 News reports on fears from groups that provide food assistance to Coloradans.

♦ CBS4 Denver has more on the projected negative impacts for Colorado’s budget.

And remember: Republicans don’t have to do this. 

► Check out the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an interview with COBALT’s Karen Middleton:

Click below to keep learning things…

Get Extra Smarterer…

► The New York Times lays out the simplest story for the Republican budget bill: Rich people win, poor people lose:

Millions of low-income Americans could experience staggering financial losses under the domestic policy package that Republicans advanced through the Senate on Tuesday, which reserves its greatest benefits for the rich while threatening to strip health insurance, food stamps and other aid from the poor.

For many of these families, the loss of critical federal support is likely to negate any improvements they might have seen as a result of slightly lower taxes, experts said. That reality could undercut Republican lawmakers and President Trump, who insisted anew this week that their legislative vision would benefit the entire economy.

The latest evidence arrived in the hours before lawmakers finalized their signature legislation. Studying a since-amended version of the Senate bill, experts at the Budget Lab at Yale, a research center, concluded Monday that it would parcel out its benefits disproportionately.

Americans who comprise the bottom fifth of all earners would see their annual after-tax incomes fall on average by 2.3 percent within the next decade, while those at the top would see about a 2.3 percent boost, according to the analysis, which factors in wages earned and government benefits received. [Pols emphasis]

Make Rich Americans Richer Again!

► President Trump’s latest budget proposal calls for significant cuts to NOAA, which has a heavy presence in Colorado. From Elise Schmelzer of The Denver Post:

A Trump administration budget proposal for one of the nation’s preeminent science agencies would slash funding for climate and earth sciences — including shuttering four Colorado-based labs and ending federal funding for two other research institutes.

The proposed budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would eliminate the agency’s research arm, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, according to a document made public on Monday.

In Colorado, that would shutter four NOAA labs at Boulder’s Earth System Research Laboratories: the Chemical Sciences Laboratory, the Global Monitoring Laboratory, the Physical Sciences Laboratory and the Global Systems Laboratory.

Established in 1957, the labs’ areas of focus include improving weather and wildfire forecasting, studying air quality, conducting long-term monitoring of greenhouse gases and ozone, as well as improving knowledge about water availability.

The budget still must gain congressional approval. If approved, the cuts would go into effect when the 2026 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

Who needs weather and wildfire forecasting anyway, amirite?

► Colorado Public Radio has more on this story:

A new budget proposal released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could end Colorado’s status as a global hotspot for federally funded climate research.

The document posted to the agency’s website on Monday details cuts laid out by earlier budget documents. If approved by Congress, the plan for the agency’s upcoming 2026 fiscal year, beginning in October, would eliminate 17 percent of its nearly 13,000-person workforce and slash its annual budget by roughly $1.5 billion, a 30 percent cut below its funding for the last full fiscal year.

Those cuts would also eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, the agency’s research arm charged with finding ways to improve weather and ocean forecasting. The office oversees four labs at the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder: the Chemical Sciences Laboratory, the Global Monitoring Laboratory, the Global Systems Laboratory and the Physical Sciences Laboratory.

Each of those labs would close under the proposed budget…

…“The idea these labs would be completely wiped out is surreal and dangerous,” said Dan Powers, the executive director of CO-LABS, a nonprofit group advocating for federally funded research in Colorado. “To just dissolve them cannot happen without a negative impact on the kind of information we all count on.” [Pols emphasis]

 

► Denver7 has more on what Trump’s proposed science cuts could mean for NASA missions — which would also impact Colorado’s economy.

► There’s big news out of Wisconsin, as The New York Times explains:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court invalidated a state abortion ban that was enacted in 1849 and had been dormant for five decades.

The decision on Wednesday settles an uncertainty that has surrounded abortion law in the state since June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

It also reflects the significance of the state’s elections for Supreme Court justices, which have been hotly contested and revolved largely around abortion rights since the fall of Roe.

The court ruled 4-3 to strike down the ban, and while the justices are officially nonpartisan, the decision split them along ideological lines. A new justice who had campaigned on her support for abortion rights, Janet Protasiewicz, joined the majority.

Remember, friends: Elections have consequences…sometimes good ones!

► Erica Bruenlin of The Colorado Sun looks at what could happen in our state as a result of $7 billion in President Trump’s proposed cuts to public education:

The future of an estimated $70 million in federal dollars that support Colorado schools in educating students with significant learning needs, recruiting and retaining teachers and providing before- and after-school programming is up in the air after the Trump administration notified state education officials that it is freezing the funding.

Schools across the country have largely been living in a cloud of uncertainty since President Donald Trump took office in January and pledged major changes to the federal government’s role in education across states, including an attempt to slash staff from the U.S. Department of Education and a proposal to scrap the federal agency.

That uncertainty ticked up a notch this week with new questions around whether the Department of Education will continue funding nearly $7 billion in grant programs for schools nationwide, The New York Times reported. They include programs that help schools better meet the needs of migrant students and those learning English, deliver effective instruction, staff schools, engage kids in learning outside of school hours and during the summer and run school health programs.

While the Colorado Department of Education typically learns how much funding the state will receive for individual federal grants in April and gets a portion of that funding July 1 — with a second portion Oct. 1 — state education officials and district leaders aren’t even sure yet whether any of that federal funding is coming their way for the new school year.

That poses a series of challenges for schools across the state and country, leading district leaders to wonder whether they’ll be able to continue funding programs and positions that hinge on federal dollars. [Pols emphasis]

Are we great again yet?

► Michelle Dally of the Colorado Times-Recorder reports on Colorado connections to “God’s Harvard.”

► A Republican vacancy committee in Colorado Springs replaced Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen with a nutball named Lynda Zamora Wilson. In 2022, Wilson failed in her bid to defeat Lundeen in a Republican Primary and then blamed the loss on rogue election machines, or something.

► Republican State Rep. Ron Weinberg is battling with fellow Rep. “Boxwine” Brandi Bradley for the right to be named the new House Minority Whip.

► Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) is making national headlines for demolishing a Republican colleague this week. From Huff Post:

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) was confronted Tuesday over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, not because it was surprising to see a Republican support increased spending — but because Arrington himself recently urged Americans to tackle the U.S. debt.

The House Budget Committee chairman was grilled by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) during a House Rules Committee hearing. The Democrat asked Arrington about the public criticisms of the bill from President Donald Trump’s former adviser Elon Musk.

“You think he’s wrong?” Neguse inquired about Musk’s apparent fiscal concerns.

“No, I think he has sincerely held convictions about the runaway spending,” said Arrington.

Musk spearheaded the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and helped fire thousands of federal staffers with the stated aim of cutting wasteful public spending, but broke with Trump over the GOP’s massive tax cut bill.

Neguse asked Tuesday why Arrington doesn’t follow Musk’s lead, only for the Texan to claim he doesn’t follow “any man” and listens solely to his conscience. It was at this moment that Arrington unwittingly walked right into a carefully laid trap.

“You don’t follow any man? Let me read you a quote,” Neguse said. “Let me finish this quote, I’ll read it to you, then you can respond. This is from your website on May 29. Quote, now this is the headline, ‘Arrington Applauds Elon Musk’s Leadership.’” [Pols emphasis]

Oof.

► Microsoft today announced its largest layoff in years — the company’s second staff reduction of 2025.

► CNN worries about a “summer of economic hell” because of Trump’s tariff war and a looming decision on raising the debt ceiling. In related news, business leaders tell Colorado Public Radio that they are growing increasingly pessimistic about our economic future. 

► RTD removed its director from her role as Operations, Safety, and Security Committee chairperson over spending concerns.

Say What, Now?

They’re no longer just eating the dogs and the cats!

“I was talking to some marshals… They said that they had detained a cannibal and put him on a plane to take him home, and while they had him in his seat, he started to eat himself and they had to get him off and get him medical attention,” said DHS chief Kristi Noem.

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— Nick Turse (@nickturse.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 3:32 PM

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Would you be surprised to learn that Congressperson Lauren Boebert (R-Windsor) might not believe that we landed on the moon? Of course you wouldn’t. 

► South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace wants her state to have its own version of the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant holding facility recently built in Florida.

ICYMI

► If Congressman Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) comes a-knockin’, you’d best not answer the door. 

► Remember: The Governor’s office is updating a new “dashboard” showing all of the federal cuts impacting Colorado.