January 23, 2018 10:11 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (January 23)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Here’s a list of movies that you probably didn’t see in 2017. It’s time to 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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► The federal government shutdown is over — for three weeks, anyway — which puts immigration reform back at center stage in Congress. As Mark Matthews writes for the Denver Post:

Much of the debate revolves around an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that shields from deportation immigrants who illegally moved to the U.S. when they were young. There are roughly 700,000 DACA recipients nationwide, including about 16,000 in Colorado.

President Donald Trump announced last year that he would end the DACA program in March, prompting activists to lean on lawmakers, and especially Democrats, to develop a legislative fix.

Bennet, who has tried for weeks to craft an immigration compromise with five other senators, including Gardner, said the goal is to write a bill that could pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

“We need to figure out whether there is a piece of legislation that can get 60 votes in the Senate,” he said.

Democrats also need to figure out how to make an angry base feel better about the manner in which the shutdown was ended.

► Ending the government shutdown also put a stop to uncertainty surrounding funding for CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program that covers some 75,000 Colorado kids. As part of the shutdown-ending proposal, federal funding for CHIP was extended for another six years.

► Attorney General Jeff Sessions was extensively questioned by special prosecutor Robert Mueller over his potential involvement with Russia and the Trump campaign — including whether Sessions may have obstructed justice since taking office.

Meanwhile, FBI Director Christopher Wray apparently threatened to resign from the job in the face of Sessions’ endless meddling over staffing decisions at the Bureau.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► President Trump wants to slap new tariffs on the import of solar panels from China, a move that business leaders say will lead to significant job losses in the U.S. From Bloomberg News:

The U.S. will impose duties of as much as 30 percent on solar equipment made abroad, a move that threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 percent of its supply. Just the mere threat of tariffs has shaken solar developers in recent months, with some hoarding panels and others stalling projects in anticipation of higher costs. The Solar Energy Industries Association has projected tens of thousands of job losses in a sector that employed 260,000.

Colorado has more than 6,000 jobs in the solar industry, according to the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, 2,000 of which the trade group estimates could be lost as a result of the tariffs. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has been vocal in his opposition to the tariffs.

Colorado officials estimate that Trump’s new tariffs will impact some $500 million worth of solar energy projects in the state.

► State lawmakers are discussing a bill that would allow Colorado to seek federal funding to improve rural broadband Internet access.

► Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton sent an email to supporters asking for their input on top policy issues in Colorado…including whether to prioritize the security of Colorado’s southern border?

► The jury is still out on whether Republican Roger Edwards can be a viable challenger to incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) in June, but we can definitively say that Edwards does not have a career as a cartoonist.

► Evangelical leaders in the United States say they are willing to ignore the fact that President Trump doesn’t appear to actually represent any of their family values. From Politico:

They embrace Trump the policymaker, says Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, despite being uneasy about Trump as a man.

Perkins knows about Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who claimed, in a 2011 interview, that in 2006 she had sex with Trump four months after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron. He knows of the reports that Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford) was paid off to keep the affair quiet in the waning weeks of the 2016 election. He knows about the cursing, the lewdness and the litany of questionable behavior over the past year of Trump’s life or the 70 that came before it.

“We kind of gave him—‘All right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here,’” Perkins told me in an interview for the latest episode of POLITICO’s Off Message podcast.

Weigh a paid-off porn star against being the first president to address the March for Life, and a lot of evangelical leaders insist they can still walk away happy.

Evangelical Christians, says Perkins, “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.”

Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?

► The Outdoor Retailer’s Show is coming to Denver, and anti-environment politicians might want to take notice.

► Just like you, Republican gubernatorial candidates read Colorado Pols.

► Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is not having a good week — and it’s only Tuesday.

► Colorado lawmakers may not agree on the solution, but they all seem to want to make it clear that they view transportation funding issues as a top priority in 2018.

► Aquatic invaders, be gone!

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Congressional Republicans figured out a way to make President Trump more effective in discussions surrounding the government shutdown — they convinced him to stay quiet.

► D’oh!

ICYMI

► Remember that time Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) pretended that he was going to get tough with Republicans on DACA?

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